


The Golden Years

by PopcornFairy28



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alive Daegal, Arthur Pendragon Lives (Merlin), Bit of a long fic so there's basically a little bit of everything, Court Sorcerer Merlin (Merlin), Episode: s05e13 The Diamond of the Day, F/M, Gen, Golden Age, Good Eira, Gwaine Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Gwaine Lives (Merlin), Gwen was pregnant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:14:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 48,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23771413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PopcornFairy28/pseuds/PopcornFairy28
Summary: Merlin swapped Morgana's life with Arthur's in the Diamond of the Day with that power of life and death that we already know he has, saving the King. Meanwhile, Percival rushed Gwaine back to Camelot, where Gaius was able to save the knight. But now that the war with Morgana has finally ended, one of a more political and courtly nature takes its place as the Once and Future King and Emrys fulfill their destiny together.
Relationships: Alice/Gaius (Merlin), Eira/Gwaine (Merlin), Freya/Lancelot (Merlin), Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Leon/OC (Merlin), Merlin/Mithian (Merlin), Percival/OC (Merlin)
Comments: 69
Kudos: 89





	1. The Tavern

Arthur stood, dread pooling in his chest. He hadn't wanted to execute Kara, but she seemed absolutely suicidal, honestly. He'd given her a second chance, and tried to explain that she was not on trial for sorcery! But, no, she wouldn't listen! Then Mordred loved her, and begged for Arthur to spare her life. Arthur tried, but nope! That obstinate girl really wanted to die! He was very much close to proving his theory that sorcerers weren't all evil; they were just all crazy. Maybe the magic did something to their head. Though, not all crazy people were sorcerers, or else Merlin would be one.

  
He felt anxious, as if the end was drawing near. He desperately wanted to dispel the feeling, for he was the King, and he needed to be strong. What would Merlin do?  
Despite popular belief, Arthur didn't truly believe Merlin actually went to the tavern all that much. The time where he let the old sorcerer walk right past him, Arthur was fairly certain Merlin was actually drunk. But he did know that generally before that Merlin didn't like alcohol, and he could hardly hold his liquor. He'd figured that it was most likely some sort of prank that Gaius liked to pull on Merlin, and Arthur went along with it just to annoy Merlin even more. Besides, if Merlin couldn't come up with a better excuse for not showing up to work, then that was his problem.

  
Well, when some people were stressed, they turned to the tavern. So that's what Arthur would do tonight. After getting Gwen's permission of course. And dragging Merlin along with him, because for one it would annoy the servant to go to the tavern and for two it just might cheer him up. Merlin was so grumpy nowadays, Arthur was beginning to wonder if he'd imagined the happy-go-lucky version of the manservant. Merlin was fluent at interpreting everyone else's emotions, and could get just about anyone to open up to him, but he clammed shut whenever someone asked about his feelings. Arthur could very, very rarely pry him open, and felt as if he knew everything and yet nothing at all of Merlin. He sighed, wondering if he'd ever understand what went on inside that idiot's head. Arthur went to find his wife and ask her opinion on his idea of going to the tavern with Merlin.

  
*****

  
Staring out of the window, Arthur heard the quick knock that signified Merlin's return to his master's chambers. Merlin only started truly knocking when Arthur and Gwen got married, just in case. Before that he'd only knock when he felt like it, which was generally when he was sulking.

  
As Merlin entered, Arthur turned around.

  
"Ah, Merlin, there you are," the King acknowledged, "I was thinking..."

  
Merlin grinned slightly and cocked his head to the side, as he hadn't in many days. The grin wasn't as bright as it was back when he was the main source of optimism, but it was still something to show that he hadn't changed too much.

  
"Are you sure you should be doing that?" Merlin joked.

  
"Are you interrupting your King, _Mer_ -lin?" Arthur countered, trying to pull a straight face and failing. Their banter always cheered him up somewhat.

  
"No, sire, I'm certain I waited three seconds after you finished," Merlin pointed out.

  
"Well, anyway, now that we've got that cleared up, I was thinking that I should visit the tavern. See what the great appeal is, and why you disappear to it way too often," Arthur declared triumphantly.

  
Merlin looked exasperated. Excellent.

  
"You're thinking of going to the tavern?" Merlin asked, raising his eyebrow.

  
"Yes, and you'll come with me, unless you have somewhere better to be. I've already talked it over with Guinevere; she's fine with it," Arthur stated matter-of-factly.

  
"I suppose I don't have anything better to do," Merlin admitted reluctantly, sighing.

  
"Good. Come on, let's go," Arthur headed towards the door.

  
"We're leaving now?!" Merlin asked, jogging up to Arthur's side.

  
"Of course, why not?"

  
"... I guess I don't see a reason why not," Merlin agreed, glancing once back at the chambers.

  
They walked briskly towards the tavern in relative silence. As they were about to head into the Lower Town, they passed Percival.

  
Merlin, apparently deciding he needed back-up for a trip to the tavern, called out to the bulky knight.

  
"Hey, Percival, wanna join us?"

  
Percival looked at them, grinned, and walked up to them. For as fearsome as the giant knight could seem (and be) sometimes, other times he seemed as innocently happy as a child.

  
"What are you two doing?" he asked.

  
"We're visiting the tavern. Feel free to join us," Arthur responded, smiling as he gestured with his hand.

  
Percival laughed, "Gwaine would be disappointed that you're visiting the tavern while he's at Stowell."

  
"That's partially why we're going," Arthur joked.

  
"Well, I better go with you, so I can tell him everything he missed," Percival decided. With that, the three set off towards the tavern.

  
*****

  
During the first hour, Arthur discovered that Merlin still did not like alcohol, though he drank a couple tankards, so while they were only slightly tipsy they decided to play a game of dice. Arthur himself didn't truly care if he won, as his personally bestowed quest was to get Merlin to genuinely laugh. It was also a good thing that Arthur definitely did not mind losing (okay, so maybe it bothered him a little bit, but was that so wrong?), because that's what he was doing. Losing, that is. Thankfully for the King's pride he wasn't losing by much. They had a whole group of people watching them, and placing bets and whatever they did.

  
Arthur shook the dice obnoxiously right in front of Merlin's face, then dramatically moved his arm around before throwing it to the table with a declaration of, "Three!" The dice landed one and two, and the crowd cheered. Merlin didn't look interested enough in the game, so Arthur decided he would turn on prat, goading Merlin into winning just to beat the King.  
"Feel free to retire at ANY time, Merlin," Arthur offered.

  
Merlin smirked, "Likewise."

  
"There's no, uh, disgrace for a servant to lose to his king," Arthur pointed out superciliously.

  
Merlin looked back at the crowd, and countered, "Or a king to his servant." The people laughed.

  
Merlin then threw some coins into the betting dish, and began to roll the dice.

  
"Watch out," warned Arthur, leaning over to Percival, "Here we go."

  
Merlin shook the dice, pulled the cup up to his mouth, then called out, "Ten." Sure enough, the dice showed two fives. Arthur looked disappointed for a second, when he heard Merlin give out his adorable laugh. He wished this moment could last.

  
"Enjoy this moment, Merlin, while it lasts," Arthur's tone implied cockiness, but his words had a double meaning.

  
Arthur rolled the dice and then tossed them down, calling out, "Twelve!", knowing fairly well that twelve is one of the least likely numbers to get from a pair of dice, as Merlin coughed. The dice did not land as twelve.

  
As Merlin was dealing with his coins, Arthur decided to try another tactic to get Merlin to laugh. Accuse him of cheating. Ridiculously.

  
"You put me off," Arthur accused Merlin. Merlin looked up, surprised.

  
"What are you talking about?" he scoffed, with a slight tone of wariness.

  
Arthur explained, "You just coughed." Laughter ran through the tavern.

  
Merlin smiled, "I was just clearing my throat." A brief smile wasn't enough.

  
"You just coughed, deliberately!" Arthur challenged.

  
Merlin took the bait, as he rolled his eyes and started to joke, "Ah! I knew you'd discover my secret in the end. There is just no fooling you, my lord." He briefly smiled, but went back to his mostly straight face, and declared, "Alright." He then placed the coins, which Arthur noticed now he had kept stacked in cute, neat little stacks except for one, on the dish. He then flicked the last one onto the dish, with a cocky look.

  
"It's like that, isn't it?" Arthur asked. Merlin cocked his head down to the side in response. Now it was time to destroy Merlin's neat coin stacks. Arthur slid his own stacked coins into his hand and then placed them, in a messy pile, back onto the dish, sprawling Merlin's.

  
Merlin then took the dice, shaking them and holding a short staring contest with the King, when he predicted, "Twelve."

  
Arthur looked down at the table as the dice hit it, and sure enough, they added up to twelve. Well, he lost that game.

  
Merlin looked happy, as the whole tavern burst into laughter and cheers, and let out an exuberant "Whoo hoo!". Then, finally, finally, the servant gave a satisfactory laugh as he gathered up the coins. Arthur's self-ordained mission was fulfilled. He couldn't bring himself to be terribly annoyed at losing, besides, he believed that Kings shouldn't be sore losers.

  
*****

  
Back in his chambers, Arthur felt cold dread return to him abruptly, as if a comforting presence that had always been there, though oft ignored, had suddenly fled. Shivering, he crawled into bed, nestling up close to Guinevere. Whatever he was feeling, he tried to ignore it. Funny feelings were for Merlin; Arthur wasn't supposed to have them, at least that's what he told himself. Fighting the sudden urge to check on his best friend, he wrapped his arms around his comforting wife, and eventually fell asleep.

  
When he woke up and observed the men who had evacuated Stowell, however, Arthur didn't feel afraid. He wasn't Courage for nothing, after all. This wasn't the time to brood. He felt determined, to win this war once and for all.

  
Morgana would learn that Emrys was not just his magic, and the Once and Future King could hold his own without Emrys.

  
*****

  
**Author's Note**

  
I kinda figured, for as many times as Merlin has been supposedly "at the tavern", Arthur would've checked once or twice. Arthur has practically always known that there's something Merlin is hiding, but has never bothered to look into it, or "fathom him out", as Merlin put it in The Darkest Hour. Most likely because the most reasonable conclusion would be magic, and when Arthur decides he likes somebody he assumes they can't have magic. So, then I concluded that Arthur knows that Merlin isn't really at the tavern, but continues to let Gaius think that's a viable excuse just to annoy Merlin. I don't really think that Arthur's stupid, just very blind to the ones he loves. It is a quality that can be admired, but it sometimes, like with Morgana and Agravaine, blinds him from the truth of their treachery, or it may end up somewhat hurting his relationship with them, like with Merlin.

  
Also, my family accuses everyone of cheating in games just for the fun of it. We don't really think that anybody's cheating, so it's very confusing for those outside of the family, but it usually brings some laughs. I applied this to Arthur's accusation of Merlin cheating, since Arthur clearly doesn't know that Merlin actually is.


	2. Eira

More magical fireballs from the sky. More Saxons. _Great_.

  
As Gwaine looked around the garrison, he knew that they could no longer hold it. They had nothing to combat magic, and there were way too many Saxons.

  
Speaking of Saxons, more came from seemingly nowhere and attacked him, but he quickly dispatched of them. Just then he heard a woman scream.

  
He didn't know exactly why it stood out to him, there had been plenty of screaming and yelling going on, but he immediately zoned in on the blond, blue-cloaked peasant resisting against a Saxon trying to drag her.

  
"Help! Help!" she cried out, to no one in particular.

  
Gwaine pushed his sword up against the Saxon's neck, and threatened, "Let her go. She's not your enemy; I am."

  
As the Saxon let go of the girl, he surprised the knight and shoved him to the ground. As Gwaine, weaponless, tried to get up, the Saxon was leering ominously over him, sword in hand, about to kill him, when a log hit the enemy on the back of the head. The girl was standing, wielding her mighty log, looking a little bit in shock at what she'd just done. As the Saxon was falling, Gwaine retrieved his sword and thrust it through the soldier, killing him.

  
Gently, Gwaine took the log from her, then protectively put his hand on her shoulder. Throwing a glance back at his brothers-in-arms, he knew that the garrison was lost. In a few seconds, surely, Leon would be ordering them to retreat. Gwaine threw his arm around the girl's shoulder, and hurried her away from the battle scene. He heard Leon's call for retreat, then the many Camelot soldiers running.

  
As they reached the horses, Gwaine finally slowed down to help her mount. Sitting in her saddle, she finally spoke for the first time since he had rescued her from the Saxon.

  
"Thank you, Sir," she thanked him wholeheartedly, still trembling from her previous ordeal.

  
"My name's Gwaine," he offered, smiling, "What's yours?"

  
She shakily smiled back, "Eira."

  
*****

  
Back in Camelot, Gwaine immediately escorted Eira to his personal chambers.

  
"These are my chambers," he explained gently, "You may stay in them if you wish, for as long as you'd like."

  
She seemed to be looking around everywhere, as if she were lost. Well, come to think of it, she was. Her whole world had been turned upside down. She was brave, but everyone has their limits.

  
"Oh," she finally registered what he'd said, "You don't have to… I don't want to be a bother."

  
"You won't be," he reassured her, "These chambers have always felt too big for me. Besides, what with this war, I'll hardly be here. Someone might as well be using them. Now, I'll see…" He cut off abruptly as he noticed that she was limping. "Are you injured?" he asked, worried.

  
She looked down at her leg quickly, then tried to disguise her limp as she protested, "It's nothing."

  
"It's something," he disagreed. "Here, let me check."

  
Relenting, she sat down on a chair and pulled up her dress to reveal a decently nasty cut. She winced as Gwaine inspected it.

  
"You should get that treated," he suggested softly.

  
She shook her head, "It isn't too bad. Besides, the physicians are busy with the wounded men."

  
"I'll get one of the physicians to come and look at your injury. Besides, I'm best friends with him; I haven't seen him in a while either. And I'll see if I can find out any information on the other survivors from your village," he headed towards the door. "Stay here."

  
*****

  
Gwaine was searching for Merlin through the corridors. He'd already seen Gaius and Daegal treating the men, the servant couldn't be that far away. Part of him was glad that he couldn't find Merlin so easily, so that he could put off telling Eira that she was the sole survivor of her village. That had been hard for him to hear; it would be absolutely heartbreaking for her.

  
As he rounded a corner, he finally found the familiar servant tending to one of the soldiers.

  
"Merlin," Gwaine greeted, and Merlin looked up at Gwaine, instantly checking the knight over with his eyes to see if he was injured as well.

  
"Are you alright, Gwaine?" Merlin asked, returning his gaze back to his work.

  
"I'm fine. Actually, I was wondering if I could borrow you for a minute. There's a girl, one of the peasants, her leg needs tended to. I know it's not as bad as some other people's, but…" Gwaine explained.

  
Merlin had an unreadable expression at "there's a girl", but then nodded when Gwaine tailed off.

  
"The more seriously injured have already been treated, Gwaine. It won't hurt for me to check on this girl," Merlin replied, finishing up binding the soldier's wound. "There you go," he stated to the soldier, who nodded gratefully towards him, then got up and walked away. Standing up, Merlin gathered his medical supplies, then turned to Gwaine and asked, "So, where is she?"

  
*****

  
As Gwaine led Merlin into his chambers, Eira stood up in some surprise.

  
"Sorry I took so long, Eira," Gwaine apologized to her. "This is Merlin, he's a trained physician and one of my best friends. Merlin, this is Eira. She's from Stowell."

  
Merlin and Eira nodded at each other as greeting, then Merlin gestured for her to sit down on the bed.

  
"May I see where you are injured?" he asked gently.

  
She nodded, then pulled up her dress to reveal the cut. Merlin inspected it, then pulled some supplies from his bag. He carefully cleaned the cut, then set about bandaging it.

  
As he wrapped the bandage, he told her, "Sorry. I'm almost done."

  
Eira looked back up at Gwaine for reassurance.

  
He smiled, "Don't worry. Merlin knows what he's doing."

  
Merlin finished bandaging the leg, then got up and went to his bag to put away his supplies.

  
Eira pulled her dress back down, and asked, "Do you have any news from Stowell? Have you heard from my family?"

  
Gwaine had dreaded this moment. He briefly looked back at Merlin, who was still in the room, wondering if Eira had remembered the servant was still there. She looked at him, too but then returned to look at Gwaine. She sensed that Gwaine trusted Merlin, so she might as well trust him, too.

  
"Eira," Gwaine started, "Your family… the people of your town… you're the only one that survived the attack…"

  
Tears formed in her eyes as she took the devastating news, "I… alone?"

  
They were no longer paying any attention to Merlin.

  
Gwaine didn't know what exactly to do when people started crying, but he still tried his best to comfort them.

  
He leaned down and gently placed his hand over hers, muttering, "I'm sorry." Then he softly began again, "Eira?" She looked up at him, trying to hold it together. "Whatever happens, you'll be safe here in Camelot," he promised, as she held his hand with her other one. "You have my word."

  
"Thank you," she said quietly and genuinely.

  
*****

  
**Author's Note**

  
So, yeah, I made Eira a good person. Partly because Gwaine deserves it, partly because it was kinda necessary for my plot, but mostly because it felt more likely for her to be good than to be bad. Seriously, what kind of plan was that? Okay, so she pretends to be a civilian, gets fake-attacked by a Saxon that knows that she's a spy, and Gwaine just happens to be the knight who hears her and comes to her rescue. Then he needs to immediately fall in love with her, right before he marches off to a battle that he could easily die in, in order to be manipulated into telling her absolutely everything that Morgana needs. Couldn't Morgana get a more reliable source of information? Both Morgause and Nimueh, the previous two high priestesses, used a crystal and water, respectively, to scry effectively on people. Sure, it wasn't the only source of information they had, but they didn't entirely rely on their traitorous spies.  
So, sure, her being the only one from her town who survived is unrealistic, but so is her being a planted traitor.


	3. The Temporary Goodbye

Merlin stood in the royal chambers, waiting for Arthur to come. Knowing what he would have to tell his best friend, he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, and fidgeted with his sleeve. He hated this.

He'd already gotten Gaius's approval to visit the Crystal Cave, and he'd asked Gwaine to accompany him. Gwaine hadn't asked any questions about why Merlin wasn't going with them to Camlann, which Merlin was grateful for. Merlin wondered if perhaps Gwaine didn't ask any questions because his mind was occupied thinking about a certain girl. Merlin shook his head and briefly smiled slightly. If they all survived this, the knights would definitely find out and tease Gwaine about his infatuation with Eira.

Sobering up once again, Merlin glanced to the table, where he had absolutely everything that Arthur would need laid out. He wondered if Arthur would guess something was wrong just by the sight of that. Merlin didn't know exactly how Arthur would react, though he did know Arthur would get upset.

All too soon, he heard footsteps entering the chambers. He didn't need to turn around to know it was Arthur, but he did anyway.

Arthur stopped at the table, crossing his arms and staring at it in slight shock. Merlin might've felt offended if he wasn't so troubled by the news he would have to share with the King.

"I think you'll find that's everything, Sire," Merlin tried to get his voice to sound as normal as possible, but it wasn't working.

"Impressive. Very impressive," Arthur complimented, "I've not seen quite like it, well… not from you anyway." Ah, there was the familiar insult.

Merlin huffed good-naturedly, "Thank you, sire."

A flash of confusion crossed Arthur's face. He started to walk past the table.

"So, what are you after?" Arthur asked.

"After?" Merlin questioned. Did Arthur really think he was after something?

"Come on, Merlin, you're the worst servant in the history of the world. Now suddenly this," Arthur pointed out.

Ah. So, Arthur was trying to figure out why Merlin was acting so weirdly. The King might reach the conclusion that it was just another moment of Merlin being protective… but that's what made it worse. Arthur thought the best of him, behind all the insults, jokes, and banter.

"Is it money?" Arthur continued asking.

They both knew it wasn't money, but Merlin still felt it necessary to reply, "No."

"No, it can't be that; you've already won all of mine," Arthur concluded, then suggested, "Time off." This was just making it harder.

"Arthur," Merlin sighed, trying to get his attention. He stayed turned away from him, however.

"No, it can't be that either. You don't really do anything," Arthur apparently didn't hear him.

Keeping his voice steady, Merlin explained, "I just wanted to make sure you had everything for your journey to Camlann, and the days ahead."

"Thank you," Arthur paused, picking up on the crucial word, "Merlin, what do you mean, 'my journey'?"

Merlin knew he had to look Arthur in the eye for this part, though it would hurt him to do so.

"I'm afraid I won't be coming with you," Merlin explained. "Not this time. I'm sorry," he added, as he observed Arthur's hurt and confused expression. "I have an urgent errand to run for Gaius, vital supplies that I can't obtain here." It sounded like a lie even to himself.

"Vital supplies?" Arthur asked flatly, not convinced.

"Yes," Merlin confirmed. "It's not that I'm…" he tried to explain.

"No, no. It's fine," Arthur cut him off, shaking his head contradictorily, "It's fine. I understand…"

Merlin tried to start again, "Arthur…"

"You know, Merlin… All those jokes about you being a coward…" Arthur continued, "I never really meant any of them. I always thought you were the bravest man I'd ever met…" Arthur averted his eye contact for the last, painful part, "Guess I was wrong."

Arthur turned away as Merlin's eyes filled with tears. Wiping his eyes, Merlin quickly exited the chambers and rushed down the corridor. After he'd gotten a fair distance away, tears streaming down his face, he slid into an alcove and looked back.

"Goodbye, old friend," he whispered in Arthur's direction, "Hopefully only temporarily."

After a couple minutes, he got up and joined Gwaine outside. Gwaine didn't mention anything about Merlin's gloomy expression, but Merlin was certain that this time the knight wasn't thinking about Eira.

*****

Unbeknownst to Merlin, Arthur silently watched him swiftly leave the chambers, then he tossed the map onto the bed and sat on it himself, holding his head in his hands.

On the inside, Arthur meant none of that; it wasn't fine, and he didn't understand. He knew instinctively that Merlin's reason for being unable to come along was a lie, that Merlin didn't trust him with the truth. And that hurt. Merlin wasn't truly a coward, but it hit Arthur then, made him frustrated that after all that they had been through together, all that Merlin had witnessed of Arthur's less than great side, Merlin still didn't trust the King back.

Arthur knew in the back of his mind that what he had said had hurt Merlin's feelings incredibly, but he hoped that with it perhaps he could change Merlin's mind. Hadn't Merlin vowed that he would stay by Arthur's side or die protecting him? Arthur wanted Merlin by his side at this decisive battle, but he would settle for the truth of why Merlin wasn't coming.

Arthur didn't know how long it had been when Guinevere strode through the door. She stopped, surprised at the scene before her.

"Arthur?" she called tenderly.

Arthur looked up at her, then reluctantly stood up from the bed. He walked over to her, smiling ever so slightly at the sight of his wife.

"What's the matter?" she asked him, confused. "Where's Merlin?"

Arthur looked down at the floor, and answered both questions with, "He isn't coming…"

She gasped, then reassured him, "It's not your fault. You know he'd come if he could. I'm sure something just came up."

"It's not just that… it's that… he wouldn't tell me why he couldn't come… after all these years," he explained.

"Perhaps he didn't want you to worry about him?" she pointed out.

"Perhaps," Arthur wasn't convinced. "I should go get ready to ride out," he suddenly declared, moving towards the table, "Can you help me?"

*****

Gwen watched as Arthur left to go prepare his horse. She couldn't think of a single time until now that Arthur had gone somewhere without Merlin, unless Merlin was sick or that one time where he was missing in the forest. It was just… odd.

As she mulled this over in her head, she felt her desire to go with Arthur rise up. Most of the time when he'd leave, she understood it as her responsibility to stay and manage the castle, although it always felt lonely. But this time, there was no Merlin to be at Arthur's side, be his confidant when Arthur was unsure of himself. She wasn't entirely sure why, but knowing that Merlin was with Arthur just made her that much more relaxed and relieved.

She looked around the chambers. Perhaps just this once, she would join Arthur. She could help Gaius out in the infirmary, anyway. It would quite possibly be the last battle of the war, and she would rather be closer to Arthur if these were to be his last days.

*****

**Author's Note**

So, there's finally some from Merlin's and Gwen's POVs. Hope you liked it. This is a painful part of the episode, but it's so beautifully acted that I just had to cover it… 

Now to discuss where this story is going… I'm planning on making it 70 chapters long, with quite a few story arcs. With my current schedule for it, it should be completely finished by early December this year. The first nine chapters are going to contain bits of the Diamond of the Day, and then we'll get more into the AU. I'm not going to spoil very much of it, but I just wanted to let you guys know that this is kind of a big Golden Age AU, because I wanted to incorporate practically everything that I like about a Golden Age AU, from how Arthur survives, the ban on magic being repealed, Merlin becoming Court Sorcerer, Albion being united, characters getting married, characters having kids, and watching those kids grow up.

Also, I'm new to this posting fanfiction stuff, so I'm still figuring out how I want to format everything...

P.S. If you couldn't tell, while I absolutely love most of the characters… Arthur is my favorite.


	4. To the Crystal Cave

Gwaine watched as Merlin mounted his horse, then off they went, heading for the Valley of the Fallen Kings. Gwaine had thought it was peculiar for Merlin to want to go there, since he always hated it when Arthur led them there and the place was practically teeming with bandits. Maybe he just disliked it when Arthur was near the valley.

When they reached the Valley, dismounted their horses, and tied them securely to a tree to proceed farther into the narrow parts, Gwaine scratched that thought. Merlin clearly did not like the Valley of the Fallen Kings at all. He didn't blame him. Gwaine didn't like it either. So that must mean that Merlin desperately needed something from the Valley if he was leaving on the eve of battle.

"Thanks for everything that you did for Eira," Gwaine started, trying to get Merlin's mind off of how spooky the valley was.

"There's no need to thank me; it was the least I could do," Merlin replied dismissively. "I've seen how you care for her."

"I could hardly leave her for the Saxons, now, could I?" Gwaine retorted jokingly.

"That was your only reason for rescuing her?" Merlin asked humorously.

"Of course," Gwaine insisted.

A twig snapping was the only warning of the bandits. There were thankfully only two of them. They weren't anywhere near a match for the knight, though he did wonder why no branches conveniently fell on them. As he was dealing with one of them, the other attacked Merlin.

What happened next utterly surprised Gwaine.

Rather than defending himself, Merlin fell down, cowered protectively, and yelled fearfully, "Gwaine!" He took care of the bandits speedily, but now he was aware that something was very, very wrong. Merlin was never this afraid. He almost seemed helpless.

"You okay?" he asked, holding out his hand.

Merlin took the hand, then tried to salvage his dignity with, "Yes, I think so, thank you." He was trying to act normal, but he was still shaking and pale.

"No need to thank me, Merlin," Gwaine repeated Merlin's earlier words, "It was the least I could do." He patted the servant on the arm, then turned around again to continue through the valley, pondering over what had just happened.

*****

They made their way to a cave opening, and for the first time in the journey Merlin walked past Gwaine purposefully, as if he recognized it. Merlin needing to be at a cave was… odd… but Merlin did many odd things so Gwaine wouldn't ask. It was what Merlin declared as he walked past Gwaine that made the knight confused.

"I can make my way from here," Merlin stated, staring resolutely at the cave's mouth.

"Sorry?" Gwaine asked, slightly confused.

"You needn't come any further," Merlin explained, though it still didn't make any more sense. "I'll be fine."

"How are you going to get back to Camelot?" Gwaine pointed out. Sure, he knew that Merlin probably didn't really need him, but Merlin didn't know that he knew that. "There are bandits everywhere."

"Once I have what I'm looking for, I'll be perfectly safe, I promise you," Merlin was being very cryptic.

Gwaine stepped closer, and asked seriously, "What are you looking for?" Merlin hesitated as he thought of an answer, and in that moment Gwaine added, "Does it have to do with your magic?"

Merlin froze, then spun around, shocked and ready to spit out a lie.

He searched Gwaine's face, then decided to answer truthfully, "It… does… How did you know that?"

"I've known since we met, Merlin," Gwaine admitted. "Flying plates aren't really that discreet… I'm sure I wasn't _that_ drunk."

Merlin gave a huff of a laugh, then asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, I obviously wasn't going to tell anybody… especially Arthur. I wondered why a sorcerer would swear up and down that this prince was something special, so I guess I decided to check it out. As for why I didn't tell you," Gwaine explained, "I guess I hoped that someday everything would work out and you would tell me yourself."

"I wanted to tell you, Gwaine, but… I've had to lie about it my whole life. I don't want anybody else to have to lie," Merlin tried to explain, looking ashamed. "Honestly, I don't want to have to lie anymore."

"I understand, Merlin," then Gwaine gestured towards the cave, "So, what do you need here?"

Merlin bit his lip, "It's… uh… a little bit… complicated to explain. I did need you to take me here, but I'll be fine from here on out… I hope." He added the last part absentmindedly.

Gwaine looked down at his sword. He'd put the pieces of the recent puzzle together, and concluded that Merlin must be temporarily unable to use his magic.

"You should get going. Arthur will need you by his side," Merlin suggested, somewhat sorrowfully. The words left unspoken were understood by them both.

"Right after yourself, Merlin," Gwaine told him, then, grasping his sword, handed it over to him. Merlin looked a little surprised, then moved to take the sword. "You know when to use the sharp end, right?"

Merlin laughed, "Yeah."

Looking back at each other, they grasped each other's forearms.

"I hope you find what you're looking for," Gwaine stated warmly.

Merlin smiled in response, which made Gwaine smile in return. The two parted their ways, Merlin heading towards the cave, and Gwaine heading for Camelot.

*****

Leon rode on his horse, watching the King stare thoughtfully into the distance and then simultaneously put on a fake smile for his wife. Well, it wasn't completely fake, but not completely genuine either. Occasionally, he'd catch the King glaring at Gaius, which was very odd behavior for him. The King never glared at Gaius. Nobody did. Thankfully, Gaius didn't seem to notice, nor did anyone else besides Leon.

Leon and Percival, along with a number of knights had noted Merlin's odd absence and Guinevere's rare presence. Fortunately, nobody made mention of it near the King. He seemed more upset about Merlin not being there than the fact that they were going to be fighting against Morgana. Gwaine was missing as well, so it was concluded that he must be with Merlin. Though there had been that new girl… Nah, Gwaine was most likely with Merlin. It was well known that the only person the knight was more devoted to than the King was Merlin. However, Leon would have to tease the tavern-loving knight about his new infatuation with Eira if they survived this.

Leon thought they were all going to die, but he would still follow Arthur to the ends of the earth. Still, it did not bode well that Merlin was not with them.

That night, Gwaine joined up with them without Merlin.

It did not bode well at all.

*****

**Author's Note**

Gwaine deserved to know about Merlin's magic, just sayin'. And even if he didn't already know, I wish Merlin would've told him at this moment, though I highly doubt he actually would. Or at least promise that he would tell him later… and actually keep Gwaine alive later.

First time in Leon's POV, and it was… different. I really wanted a somewhat outside (yet inside) perspective on the journey to Camlann, and really only had Leon or Percival to work with, so I chose Leon.

Next chapter is the last chapter to contain parts of the Diamond of the Day Part 1 and it's quite possibly my favorite chapter yet. After that, the next 4 chapters will contain parts of the Diamond of the Day Part 2.


	5. Find the Path!

On the way to Camlann, Arthur found himself constantly thinking about Merlin. He didn't want to, truly; he wanted to not feel hurt that the servant had abandoned him when he felt that he needed him most, but he found his mind wandering back to the topic.

After finally speaking to Gaius about Merlin's excuse and seeing Camlann for the first time, however, Arthur managed to get his mind off of Merlin and onto the battle about to take place.

Now inside his tent, Arthur was repeating the scene of Camlann in his head. How dismal and ominous it had looked. Leon's words resounding in his head.

_"This is a death trap, Sire. Morgana will have no means of escape, but neither will we."_

Arthur knew that he needed a place so that Morgana could not outflank them. That was her favorite move, and perhaps without it she could get caught off guard. Or maybe she'd already found a way to outflank them; Arthur really wouldn't be surprised.

She had the bigger army and sorcery on her side, but the Saxons weren't as well armored or trained as Camelot's soldiers. As for the sorcerers, there seemed to be very few considering that Morgana proclaimed herself their leader. Still, she was powerful enough on her own, so she didn't really need them.

It was as Arthur was sitting at his table, weighing every possibility, when Guinevere came inside. He looked up at her with a smile, and she smiled back. He resumed staring thoughtfully at the table shortly after.

"What is it?" she asked.

Arthur rubbed his forehead and then answered, "What if Sir Leon was right? Perhaps we should've made our stand at Camelot."

Instantly understanding what he was worried about, Gwen came to stand by the table, looking straight into his eyes and declaring steadfastly, "Your plan is brave, and bold. And our only chance to defeat Morgana once and for all. Yes, we could've held down at the citadel but for how long? And at what cost to the kingdom? I have never for a moment doubted the valor and wisdom of this choice."

Arthur stood up, renewed, and moved closer to her, assuring her, "If you do not doubt me, Guinevere, then I do not doubt myself." He grasped her hands lovingly as he continued, "That gives me a strength greater than any weapon."

She smiled, kissing his cheek briefly as they wrapped their arms around each other. Arthur hugged her tightly, feeling comforted by her. She was the first to end the embrace, as she slid her hands down his arms and said, "Come. We must rest while we can."

She giggled as he picked her up, as he often did, and carried her to the bed.

As Arthur lay in bed with his arms wrapped around his wife, she already fast asleep, he spared no thoughts on murderous half-sisters or wayward servants. He thought only on the woman dearest to his heart and how he wished once again that he never had to get out of bed. And so he drifted off.

*****

Merlin woke up, very well-rested considering he'd slept in a cave for he didn't know how long. He could no longer feel pain his injuries from Morgana's cave-in. He sat up, then checked to see if they were still there. They weren't. He'd been healed.

He looked around dazedly at the crystals, which had seemed to shine brighter than when he'd gone to sleep. Perhaps that meant it had worked?

He got up to his knees, then cupped his hands, whispering, " _Gewyrcan lif._ "

Instantly, he felt something fluttering in his hands, so he spread them out, and a beautiful blue butterfly flew out.

Merlin gleefully smiled and stood up. He watched the butterfly fly up into the cave, then briefly felt bad since it couldn't get out.

After a few seconds, he knew that the time for games was over. He had his magic back, and now he needed to use it for the good of the kingdom.

Choosing a crystal, he tried to manipulate it to show him what he wanted. To know what Morgana was doing. A few images flashed across the screen, of him and Arthur in their past adventures, and Merlin pulled his hand back briefly as if he'd been burned. Stretching it out again, he finally got the crystal to show what Morgana was doing. And it wasn't good.

After he'd seen her plan, he needed to contact Arthur. Hopefully the King would heed it.

"Arthur, where are you?"

*****

_"Arthur,"_ a voice that suspiciously sounded like Merlin's softly said in the King's mind, waking him up. Merlin sounded kind of sad. But it couldn't be Merlin, he wasn't there.

_"Arthur,"_ Merlin called again, _"I'm sorry I had to leave you. I didn't want to. I hope one day you'll understand why."_

Arthur was touched by it, though he couldn't understand why he was hearing Merlin's voice in this way. He concluded he must be dreaming... Yet a funny feeling told him he wasn't. It felt as if Merlin was truly right next to his bed, though Arthur knew he wasn't. He couldn't easily explain it, so he hardly questioned it. Come to think of it, he always did that where Merlin was involved.

_"Your plan is a good one and you may yet save this kingdom, but you must beware,"_ Merlin continued with a tone of warning and urgency in his voice. _"Your army's flank is vulnerable. There's an old path over the ridge at Camlann; Morgana knows of it. She means to trap you, Arthur. Find the path, or the battle will be over before it's begin. Find the path!"_

Arthur finally opened his eyes, fully awake. He half-expected to find Merlin just sitting beside him, and was slightly disappointed when he wasn't.

He lifted his head as he processed this new information. Was it a dream? The only way Merlin could've talked to him like that was magic. Perhaps a sorcerer, or even some other magical source, was sending the message for Merlin in his voice to make sure Arthur would listen.

Arthur felt Guinevere wake up beside him, and after a few seconds she asked, "What's the matter?"

"Merlin," was all he said, staring straight ahead.

Guinevere started rubbing his chest gently and tried comforting him, "It was just a dream, Arthur. Just a dream."

Arthur shook his head, not even realizing that his wife most likely thought he'd dreamt of Merlin being in danger.

"It didn't feel like a dream," he protested, "It felt..." Well, he didn't know what it was. But rather than pondering how he heard the warning, he decided he should heed it. If his army really was vulnerable, it was his duty to send some men to take care of it. He quickly jumped out of bed, pulled on a jacket, and exited the tent.

As he left, he barely noticed Guinevere call out, distressed and confused, "Arthur!" So focused he was on getting to his men.

Instantly, Leon came rushing up to him, probably having been ready to burst into the tent if Arthur hadn't exited it.

"Sire! The scouts report that Morgana's army is on the move," Leon told him.

"She'll attack before the night's done. Tell the men to prepare," Arthur responded, breathing slightly heavily.

"Yes, sire," and Leon headed off to do as he was commanded.

Arthur turned around, spying for somebody to lead some men to check for the path who would take his orders seriously, not questioning how he knew that she meant to outflank them.

"Percival! Gwaine!" he called out upon finding them. They turned around and started to head towards him. "Take a patrol of men to the rear of us," he commanded, pointing in the direction. "You're looking for a hidden path running into the mountains. She means to outflank us. We must stop her now!"

The two knights nodded, then headed off to fulfill their duty. Arthur, after briefly glancing over the rest of his men, headed back to his tent to get into the rest of his armor.

*****

"Sorry I left so suddenly," Arthur apologized to Gwen upon entering the tent. She was already dressed in her outfit for the battle. Well, she'd be in the hospital tents, but that was a battle in itself.

"It's alright," she assured him. "Whatever made you rush out so soon though?"

"I had… well, it'll sound silly, but it didn't feel silly. I dreamed of Merlin warning me that Morgana would try to outflank us with a hidden path. Which is exactly something she'd try to do. Normally, I wouldn't take dreams like that to mean anything, but… it felt so real. Like he was right there, talking to me," Arthur explained.

"it isn't silly at all, Arthur," she responded, helping him into his armor.

After a few seconds of silence, Arthur sighed, "This will be the last battle, for worse or better. I wish it didn't have to be like this…"

"Perhaps we could have helped Morgana back then, Arthur, but she never let us in," Gwen pointed out sorrowfully. "You and I both know there's no way we can get the Morgana we loved back. And we cannot love this Morgana. This needs to end. She doesn't want to help anyone but herself, not even the other magic users." 

"You're right… of course you're right. Doesn't mean it has to be easy, though," he admitted.

"No, it isn't easy," she agreed.

"I'm glad you came along this time," Arthur confessed, taking his wife's hands.

"Me too," she stated, smiling up at him.

They leaned in instinctively at the same time. Just in case it would be the last time they ever would, they kissed longingly. Arthur grasped Guinevere's soft, curly hair while she ran her fingers through his. All too soon to them, they broke apart, knowing that it was time.

*****

Merlin didn't only watch Arthur through the crystal. When Arthur had gone back to Guinevere, Merlin decided to let them have their privacy and checked on his other friends.

He first checked on Gwaine and Percival, even deciding to telepathically wish Gwaine luck, to which the knight had jumped, then smiled.

Then he checked on Gaius and Daegal, letting them know that he now had his magic back, and would hopefully get back there in time.

Then he checked on Leon, and noticed that Arthur was about to give a speech. Proudly, he had watched Arthur inspire his men. He only wished he could be there in person.

Leaving his father behind, Merlin moved further into the Crystal Cave. He hadn't made it this far the previous time he'd visited the Crystal Cave. He briefly wondered if the Crystal Cave would show a different ghost each time he visited it. Part of him hoped not, yet he would like to talk with Will or Lancelot or Elyan, or his other friends that he'd lost over the years.

As Merlin moved further into the cave, the crystals thickened. They flashed with vibrant colors, trying to show him something.

Merlin glanced at the crystals. They showed the past, present, and future all at once. He remembered quite a lot of the images, guessed of the origins of others, and paid close attention to others.

Of the future, he observed him talking to Arthur, who seemed tired, as they were riding somewhere, and he grinned back at the King. Next he saw himself and a redhead traveling in a cave, Gwen asking Gaius something in the throne room, a group of people, some with red cloaks, approaching a cave where you could see Kilgharrah napping. The crystals showed Arthur holding a baby tenderly, Mithian laughing with Guinevere, Gwaine flying through the air on the training grounds then getting up with a wide grin, him escorting his mother somewhere, both of them dressed fancily. Next appeared what looked like a knighting ceremony except that the dark haired person kneeling was in dark blue clothes rather than chainmail and red cloak.

A decent-sized red dragon flying to a tower. Arthur and Guinevere, pregnant, greeting multiple kings and queens as they arrived in Camelot. Arthur and the knights approaching a huge tree with a red light swirling out of it. Arthur and Gwen walking as the clouds changed shape in the sky. Merlin and Arthur looking over Lake Avalon while a boat is burning. Two dark and curly haired boys dressed in Camelot armor, ready to fight in a tournament. Gwaine, Leon, and Percival talking out something. Aithusa, healthy, flying close to the ground with some dark haired, giggling kids on her back. Many of the scenes showed Arthur and Merlin with beards.

There also seemed to be weird hallucinations that went by too quickly for Merlin to figure out what they were. Not that the images before had made much sense. Once he saw Arthur, pale and unmoving, laid out on a boat, looking dead. Comparing that one to the other images, he only hoped that he could defy the prophecy.

All of a sudden the luminescence from the crystals flared up, nearly blinding him. Closing his eyes, he could physically feel the magical aura completely surround him, bathing him in a glow. With a few deep breaths, he let himself relax and just _felt_ his magic, flowing through his blood. He realized for the first time, that for whatever reason, he WAS the most powerful sorcerer to walk the earth.

His fingers tingled, and he knew was ready. He reached for his magic, with one goal in mind.

*****

**Author's Note**

Those visions in the crystal are _totally_ not spoilers for the rest of this fanfiction. Okay, so maybe they are. I couldn't resist it. It was calling to me. But I'm not giving out any hints besides this one… the time that he saw Arthur "dead" doesn't actually occur in this storyline.

First time I've had a spell in a chapter, though thankfully it was very brief. Those are hard to write. I just had to include Merlin making the butterfly, because to me that just epitomizes who Merlin is. Merlin has all this power, yet if it was up to him I feel like he would just be in a meadow conjuring up butterflies and other pretty things. Arthur's my fave, but Merlin's personality is most like mine, except that I'm obviously not the most powerful sorcerer ever whose destiny is to help unite Albion.

I thought it was kinda rude of Arthur to just leave the tent in a rush without explaining to Gwen why he did. Then the next scene that we see is Arthur in his armor giving a speech to his assembled men. I felt that they needed some closure right before the battle, since they both knew it was quite possible they would never see each other again.

I hope I did alright with the Arwen bit. I've never dated anyone yet so… I don't have my own life to relate to romance. I both love and hate writing romance.

I have always wondered what happened in the heart of the crystal cave to unlock Merlin's true power. So, here's my spin on it. I don't think that Merlin saw visions of the near future in the actual show, for obvious reasons, but I think that he should've been able to.

Alright, that's a wrap on the Diamond of the Day Part 1! We're getting closer and closer to the Golden Age!


	6. Lightning over Camlann

**Merlin**

Just a few seconds later, he opened his eyes, gasping, as he heard swords clashing and men yelling in the distance.

He looked at his hand, utterly surprised to find a wooden staff practically dripping with magic grasped tightly there. He certainly didn't remember it being in the Crystal Cave. He scanned the forest around him, spotting that his horse had also teleported to Camlann and was currently tethered to a tree, bearing all his gear he normally carried.

He looked back at the hill in front of him, fairly certain that once he got to the top of it he would be overlooking the dreaded battlefield. As he climbed it, he muttered a few spells to change into his infamous disguise. After all, even if Morgana knew that he was Emrys and he wanted to tell Arthur soon, there was no point in distracting and confusing everyone that he was a sorcerer.

*****

**Gwaine**

He and Percival had been fighting for several hours, nearly finished with the hundred Saxons that were supposed to be a surprise. He didn't know how Arthur found out right before the battle that there was a hidden path. He wondered if, since Merlin had contacted him in his head, perhaps Merlin had contacted Arthur similarly to warn him.

It was nearly morning when he heard thunder crack. That seemed odd, but he didn't ponder on it as they finished off the last Saxon on the path.

They quickly gathered up their injured and hurried to back to camp. The thunder increased and they could finally see lightning strike where the battlefield must be, but there was no rain.

As they made their way to the tents, they finally saw where the lightning was coming from. A sorcerer, who Gwaine recognized as the cranky Dragoon the Great, was on top of a hill. He was confused. He thought perhaps Merlin would've been the one striking with lightning…

_OH_ , he realized, _Merlin_ is _Dragoon the Great!_

He nearly laughed at that discovery, then was somehow scowling and grinning at the same time as he recalled the time in the forest when he, Leon, Percival, and Elyan had been unceremoniously thrown magically, and the others had been used as steps for the old man.

No wonder "Dragoon the Great" hadn't seriously attacked them, knew their names, and had the gall to insult them as if he knew them!

He was now extremely curious what Merlin had been doing then.

He really should've made the connection sooner; he'd heard how Dragoon the Great had supposedly enchanted Arthur and Gwen shortly before Morgana's betrayal. So many things hadn't added up back then. Arthur and Gwen obviously hadn't been enchanted for one. Then, if Dragoon the Great was so allusive, how had he been so easily caught?

Wait.

How did Merlin even come up with a name like Dragoon the Great anyway?

Percival looked at him weirdly when Gwaine had to clap a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing.

*****

**Arthur**

The Saxons were rushing at the Once and Future King, and as he tiredly prepared to swing his sword at the onslaught. But as he got the momentum and swung to hit them, a flash of light struck, and the enemies went flying back. He remembered that there were more enemies coming from behind before he could think much about what just happened, so he turned around to meet them. Again, light burst, and the enemies were thrown back.

_Magic_ , he thought, scanning for the sorcerer who was doing this. He saw a figure on a hilltop, with a staff. _And... That's... Dragoon the Great... He's helping_ ** _us_** _, and he's a sorcerer. Maybe Merlin's right; maybe the good sorcerers are just crazy. Goodness, he could've blown me up this whole time. I am one lucky man._

He watched as Dragoon struck the opposing army with lightning a few times when he heard Morgana scream out, "EMRYS!!!" She was immediately shot to the ground.

Arthur thought he'd heard that name somewhere before, but he couldn't remember for the life of him. Oh well, he could ask Guinevere or Gaius later. For now, he was having a strange staring competition with the sorcerer.

Just then, the White Dragon was screeching, flying back, and the figure looked up at the dragon. He called out in a weird language, and the dragon backed up, retreating.

_But, I thought only Dragonlords can do that. Wait, does that mean he's the last Dragonlord, and not that other guy?_

With renewed confidence, Arthur raised his sword, and cried out, "FOR THE LOVE OF CAMELOT!!!", leading his men to push the Saxons back.

Emrys, or Dragoon the Great, continued to help them fight the Saxons.

*****

**Percival**

When he and Gwaine had led a patrol to the rear of the camp, he noticed Gwaine jump once and then smile. Gwaine wasn't usually jumpy, and even the friendly knight wouldn't smile when situations were very serious. Perhaps Gwaine had been thinking about that girl that Percival had heard rumors about.

He knew Camlann decently well, having traveled through it with Lancelot, and on patrols. He didn't remember there being a hidden path, but of course that's why it was called a _hidden_ path. It wouldn't be well-known. He didn't know how Arthur knew there was one, but thank goodness he did. Sure enough, shortly after they reached the path, about a hundred Saxons came marching.

For several hours, they fought the Saxons when they heard thunder. That wasn't uncommon, storms came frequently to mountains, which they were near to, but it still seemed strange.

They defeated their division of Saxons shortly after, then headed back to camp with their injured. When the battlefield came into view, they could clearly see a sorcerer attacking the Saxons with lightning.

Percival squinted, and thought he recognized the sorcerer as… what was it… Dragoon the Great?

That man was eccentric, he knew, but he would never have guessed that he would help them against the Saxons. Percival didn't really have much of an opinion on magic. He remembered that Lancelot had seemed to have a positive opinion of it, even though he was also absolutely dedicated to Camelot. He'd often wondered if Lancelot knew a sorcerer as well.

Percival glanced at Gwaine, who was on the verge of laughter upon watching the sorcerer. His fellow knight had been acting very strangely, but he decided that he felt giddy as well at the fact of a sorcerer helping a kingdom that banned magic. Turning away from Gwaine, Percival grinned widely.

*****

**Gaius**

At the first crackle of lightning, which Gaius knew wasn't caused by a thunderstorm, he gestured to Daegal to continue treating the men, then rushed out of the tent. He had actually only seen Merlin in action very few times for how many years they had been living together.

Merlin was standing on a hill, in his 'Dragoon the Great' disguise, a staff in his hand, sending lightning at the enemy army.

Only a few seconds after he had left the tent, Guinevere joined him in watching the spectacle.

There were a few more lightning cracks, and a couple of screams. Aithusa came flying in, screeching, but Merlin quickly commanded her to leave.

Upon noticing their help from the hill, the Camelot army roared and surged forward onto the Saxons.

"Who is that?" she asked him. So, she didn't recognize him yet, apparently.

"Someone truly remarkable," he tried to be vague, but he couldn't help the pride slipping into his voice. Surely it wouldn't hurt if Gwen knew that he thought well of the sorcerer.

"You know him," she said simply. He turned back to look at her. She had a questioning look on her face, waiting for him to explain. She didn't look surprised, or angry.

"Let's just say he deserves our gratitude," was his only explanation. Then, since Merlin seemed to be finished and Gwen just might guess who the sorcerer was if they continued to remain outside, he headed back into the tent. Gwen came back in after a minute, a puzzled look on her face.

*****

**Leon**

He was fighting close behind Arthur when he noticed over ten Saxons surrounding the King. The knight was trying to get some of his fellow knights' attention to help Arthur out when lightning struck the Saxons. Jumping back in surprise, he quickly checked that Arthur was alright. The unnatural lightning seemed to have been directed only at the Saxons attacking the king and not at the king himself. That was… odd. What kind of powerful sorcerer would help them?

He watched as Arthur apparently found the sorcerer, and then followed his gaze. On top of a hill overlooking the valley, a sorcerer who Leon recognized as "Dragoon the Great" stood with a staff in his head. He then raised his staff and struck lightning at the Saxon army again.

Leon heard Morgana scream out, "EMRYS!!!" at the sorcerer. Honestly, that was a foolish thing to do. All that was gonna do, if the sorcerer truly was on their side, was point out to the sorcerer where she was so that…

He struck her with lightning as well.

Leon really didn't know what to make of Dragoon the Great. He wondered if the sorcerer just did things because he felt like it and wasn't on anybody's side, or if he had been simply misunderstood. He didn't seem evil… just a little… mischievous.

At that moment, the White Dragon came rushing down, screeching awfully, perhaps having the felt her mistress get struck down. He shivered as he remembered the attacks of the Great Dragon.

Dragoon turned to the dragon, and called out to it in a weird language. The dragon backed up, and flew away.

Leon looked back at Arthur to discern what he was thinking of it all. Staring at the sorcerer in shock, Arthur glanced back at his men, then at the Saxons, and lifted his sword.

"FOR THE LOVE OF CAMELOT!!!" the King shouted, rallying the men. Leon ran forward with quite a few of the other soldiers to chase the Saxons, while Dragoon continued to strike the opposing army with lightning.

*****

**Guinevere**

She was tending to the wounded and occasionally defending the tent from Saxons when she heard a loud crack, almost like thunder. She observed Gaius race out of the tent, very quickly for his age, at the sound as if he had been expecting it, and she briskly followed. The sound came again, crackling. She stood behind Gaius now, searching the sky for the noise. At last, she found the source. An old sorcerer stood atop a hill, shooting lightning at the enemy army and sending the dragon away. Guinevere couldn't help but feel that he was somehow familiar. Puzzled, she looked to Gaius, who seemed to be trying to contain a proud smile at the sorcerer.

"Who is that?" she asked him, since he seemed to recognize the man.

Gaius didn't look back at her and answered with a tone of awe, "Someone truly remarkable."

"You know him," she stated. It wasn't a question.

Gaius turned to her, still smiling, and discreetly addressed her statement, "Let's just say he deserves our gratitude." With that, the old Physician returned to the tent, leaving the Queen still watching the sorcerer, confused.

She didn't understand why the sorcerer, who she couldn't remember where she had seen him before, was helping them, but she was still grateful that he was. She wondered how Arthur had reacted to it, hoping that he was still alive.

The man turned around, and headed down the hill.

She could question the sorcerer's presence later. For now she needed to tend to the injured men.

*****

**Author's Note**

Teleportation is an established thing in the show since the first episode (I think Mary Collins, Nimueh, and Anhora use a form of teleportation in the first season alone), so why did Merlin have to waste so much time riding his horse all the way to Camlann in his old disguise after apparently unlocking his true potential? Yes, yes, I know. Because it builds up suspense. Sorry if I'd rather have an awesome moment than suspense.

It is possible that it was too far away, but Merlin is the most powerful sorcerer to ever live, and I wanted him to do something that he hasn't been seen doing before in the show. He's already done lightning before in his battle with Nimueh, though he is more in control of it here.

And as for how I'm going to explain why Merlin could teleport to Camlann but can't teleport Arthur to Lake Avalon? You'll just have to wait and see ;)

I made Daegal alive since his was a pointless and rather avoidable death (I know you're not great at healing spells, Merlin, but I can't believe you wouldn't try something after all this time!). I also made him the new Court Physician's apprentice, partly because of Merlin's praise of Daegal's healing skills in The Hollow Queen, partly because it helps clear the way for Merlin to have a new occupation, and partly because Merlin deserves to have people close to him know about his magic. In my opinion, Merlin's more like the physician's official trained assistant at this point, since he's been the "apprentice" for nearly 10 years and also is Arthur's servant and thus can't help Gaius 24/7. Daegal will be in the upcoming chapters more than he has been in the previous chapters, but I don't think we'll see his POV… or at least not very often.

It was fun writing in a bunch of different perspectives. I tried to break up but also keep close the overlapping ones (Gwaine and Percival, Arthur and Leon, and Gaius and Gwen). I played with the idea of bringing in even Morgana's and Mordred's perspectives of Merlin striking their army with lightning except that… well… this story isn't about them, especially since one of them will only make one appearance, and if you read my summary you should already basically know what's going to happen to the other.

Hope you enjoyed it!


	7. I'm a Sorcerer, I Have Magic

Arthur ran another Saxon through. Their army was rather sparse in this area since they were retreating.

He glanced around just to make sure there were no more enemies when he saw one of his men, lying on the ground, raise their hand to get his attention. He rushed to the man's side. Just as quickly as he got there, the man's whole body went limp.

Arthur sat there for a couple seconds, partially because he was exhausted and partially to mourn the man's death silently. It was never easy to see one of your men die. Not that Arthur would cry over them.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him, and a sword tinging. An enemy, most likely, planned to take Arthur by surprise while his back was turned to them.

Arthur spun around, swinging his sword to block them. It worked. Then he jumped up, and observed who his enemy was.

Mordred.

Arthur hesitated, not wanting to kill the boy, though knowing full well that Mordred had just tried to kill him and most likely had known it was him, even from the backside. He pleaded at Mordred with his eyes.

_This is no way to end this. I gave the girl you loved a chance. She didn't take it!_

Mordred stepped forward and thrust his sword into Arthur's side. He instantly felt roaring pain.

_So, that's how it's going to be, is it?_ Arthur thought bitterly, falling to his knees. He may die from the wound, but he would take Mordred with him. Just so that nobody else went after him for vengeance. He briefly wondered what Merlin would do to Mordred if Arthur didn't kill him. His servant was very protective of him. Or what the knights would do.

"You gave me no choice," Mordred declared quietly, with a very, very slight tone of regret.

_I GAVE YOU EVERY CHOICE!!!_ Arthur angrily jumped up and impaled the traitorous knight with Excalibur.

After they had a brief stare down, Arthur thrust Excalibur up, quickening Mordred's death.

Creepily, Mordred smiled as his life faded. Arthur dropped him, losing the strength to hold him up and not really wanting to anyway. He wished it didn't have to be this way.

The pain catching up to him, Arthur turned around, clutching his side. He took a few steps forward, intending to get as far as he could back to the camp, if just to see Guinevere one last time.

However, his body refused to cooperate, as after a few steps he fell forward. He caught himself with his sword, but, after leaning onto a rock, was fading quickly.

_I wonder who will find my body_.

With that, Arthur collapsed completely into darkness.

*****

Merlin was searching the battlefield for Arthur. He hoped that Arthur would still be standing, but, just in case, he was checking over each Camelot body to make sure he didn't miss him.

He'd decided to keep his old man disguise because he didn't really need to be moving fast, since he was looking at each body, and if Arthur needed to be healed then it would be simpler to do it in the disguise than without.

If he wasn't so riled up to find Arthur, he might've been able to use magic in order to find him, but the magic required to see ahead required focus on the spell, which Merlin would not have. He knew; he'd already tried. It had worked on the hilltop to find Arthur amidst the sea of men, but afterwards it did not.

Eventually, after searching and searching, Merlin finally found the King. He was slumped against a rock, at the very least unconscious. Merlin didn't even take notice of Mordred's body laying near the area. He rushed to Arthur's side, checking for a pulse. While he was relieved to find one, albeit weak and erratic, his eyes landed on a growing patch of blood on Arthur's chainmail. Desperately, Merlin grabbed Arthur and began to carry him.

He stepped over Mordred, noticing him for the first time. A slight flash of regret shot through him, but it didn't last long. He'd tried his best with Mordred; he really had. When Mordred had come to him with the question about what he would do with the woman he loved, however, he hadn't felt emphatic, for whatever reason. He'd thought it should've been easier, that he would have recognized Mordred and Kara's plight as very similar to his and Freya's. Yet, somehow, where there had been a gaping hole in his heart from Freya, it had healed. He would always remember the girl fondly, but his heart was no longer broken.

Now was not the time to mull over regrets. Now was the time to get Arthur to safety.

*****

Arthur was jolted back to the land of the living suddenly. He quickly took notes of his surroundings: he was lying down, it was nighttime again, there was a campfire crackling, and a person sat on the other side of the campfire, looking away from him. The person had an all too familiar mop of black hair and a worn jacket.

_Merlin's here. Merlin found me. And I'm not dead._

He felt a rush of relief at those realizations.

"Merlin," he called out, getting the servant's attention.

Merlin jumped, then immediately rushed to Arthur, asking, "How are you feeling?"

Feeling? Arthur didn't currently feel much of anything. Perhaps he should try sitting up…

BAD IDEA.

Pain shot through his chest unbearably. He let out a few loud groans as he ploughed through the pain.

Merlin grasped his arm tightly, then pushed Arthur back onto the ground while repeating, "Lie back. Lie back."

Lying back did help, but it was still painful. At least his brain could function now.

"Where have you been?" Arthur asked, hoping that Merlin would be honest now that he was back. At least, Merlin couldn't run away this time, since he wouldn't dare leave Arthur, injured and alone, in the woods.

"It doesn't matter now," Merlin answered in a strange tone. Arthur wasn't paying too much attention to it, though, as a new wave of pain crashed into him.

"Ah, uh, my si-. My side," Arthur moaned, half-expecting Merlin to be able to fix it.

"You are bleeding," Merlin pointed out, looking at the injury. Arthur lifted his head to peer at it as well, and he discovered that Merlin had already bandaged it.

"That's alright, I thought I was dying," Arthur admitted, breathing heavily.

Merlin started, "I'm sorry." Arthur shook his head, trying to convey that it wasn't in any way Merlin's fault. The last thing he needed was for Merlin to feel guilty for something out of his control. If it wasn't for Merlin, Arthur might've died already.

"I thought I'd defied the prophecy," Merlin continued. _Prophecy? What the heck are you talking about, Merlin?_

"I thought I was in time." Arthur rolled his eyes. Why did the idiot have to be so cryptic?

"What are you talking about?" Arthur asked, extremely confused.

"I defeated the Saxons," Merlin admitted, "The dragon… and ye-… and yet… I knew it was Mordred that I must stop."

_This isn't making any sense but it does to Merlin so I'm just going to go with it. Maybe he's meaning that he was the one who convinced the sorcerer to help. That would explain why he wouldn't tell me where he was going. But it's not his fault._

Arthur tried to comfort Merlin by patting his shoulder with his hand.

"The person who defeated them was the sorcerer," Arthur explained gently.

Merlin did not look comforted. If possible, he looked even more agitated.

"It was me," he started again shakily.

_This must be some kind of joke. He must think this is funny._ Arthur concluded.

"Don't be ridiculous, Merlin," Arthur reprimanded him with a smile.

Merlin was still on the verge of tears. He seemed serious about it. Perhaps he was.

  1. _Merlin is NOT a sorcerer. I would know if he was a sorcerer. He's an idiot, that's what he is._



"This is stupid… why would you say that?" Arthur asked.

Merlin was really struggling getting his words out, sniffling every two seconds, "I'm a… I'm a sorcerer… I have magic…"

_Nonononononononononononono, not Merlin! It isn't true!!!_

"… and I use it… for you, Arthur. Only for you," Merlin finished, still fervently trying to hold back tears.

"Merlin, you are NOT a sorcerer. I would know," Arthur tried to get him to see sense.

Merlin shook his head, then motioned his hand towards the fire and said, "Here."

The next part sounded like "Up sty a draca" to Arthur, and since that didn't make any sense, he recognized it as words of the Old Religion.

Merlin's eyes flashed gold.

A dragon made from sparks flew around the innocent campfire.

Merlin… was a sorcerer.

_WHY, MERLIN, WHY? WHY HAVE YOU LIED TO ME THIS WHOLE TIME?!?!_

Merlin was staring at Arthur, waiting for his reaction, or his decision. It felt uncomfortable to be stared at. Arthur wasn't ready to make a decision. He wasn't ready to react. He wasn't ready to accept that his best friend, who was like a brother to him, had lied to him every single day.

"Leave me," he commanded, knowing that Merlin would obey if Arthur was adamant enough about it.

Merlin looked hurt and began, "Arthur…"

"No. Just… just… you heard," Arthur tried to move, since Merlin wasn't, but Arthur couldn't.

Merlin got up dejectedly and left.

Arthur watched him go, then tried immediately to fall asleep. He didn't want to think about what just happened. He never wanted to think about what just happened.

*****

Merlin wasn't sure that he'd made the right decision in telling Arthur. But he couldn't really avoid it any longer. He would most likely have to heal Arthur, and Arthur would've found out then. It was better that he told him.

Still, after he got a little ways away, still close enough to see the campfire crackling, he sat down, pulled his knees up to the rest of his body, and sobbed.

When Gaius came the next morning, Merlin hadn't slept at all, though he had stopped crying shortly before his arrival.

*****

Arthur heard Merlin get up to leave after Gaius had told him to check the horses. He opened his eyes and watched him, then after the servant was out of earshot, turned to Gaius and grasped. Thank goodness there was finally somebody else who didn't have magic here.

"He's a sorcerer," Arthur tried to explain.

Gaius looked at him blankly, then sadly.

"You knew," Arthur realized glumly, letting his arm fall down to the ground. Of course Gaius knew. How could Gaius not know Merlin was a sorcerer? They lived together. Perhaps Daegal knew as well.

"Arthur," Gaius began, "He is your friend."

"I want him gone," Arthur stubbornly declared.

"There's no need to fear him," Gaius tried to explain. No, Arthur didn't fear that Merlin would kill him in his sleep. He'd had plenty of opportunity for almost ten years. He just didn't want Merlin _there._ He didn't want to process the feelings. If Merlin wasn't there, perhaps Arthur could pretend that it didn't happen and was just a ridiculous dream.

"Have him take word to Camelot, to Guinevere," Arthur suggested, trying to figure out how to get Merlin away that Gaius might agree to. Somebody needed to go back to tell Guinevere and give her the royal seal, anyway. Merlin could be trusted with that. He would never hurt Guinevere.

"You cannot send Merlin. I'll go," Gaius protested.

"I need a physician right now, not a sorcerer," Arthur tried again, belatedly realizing that Merlin was both. Sure, he wasn't as good a physician as Gaius, but he was still decent.

"He can do far more than me. Far more than you can ever imagine," Gaius explained. Arthur was still trying to think of a way to get rid of Merlin when Gaius continued, "Arthur, he doesn't just have magic. There are those who say he is the greatest sorcerer ever to walk the earth."

_What?_ "Merlin?" Arthur asked, incredulous. Whoever made that decision must've been an idiot. It also meant that Merlin was just a natural at it, since Arthur was certain Merlin could not have practiced more than Morgana, and she was fairly powerful.

"If you're to stand any chance at survival, you'll need Merlin to help you. Not me," Gaius explained urgently.

Survival. Arthur wanted to survive. He wanted to see Guinevere again, to hold her close, and to kiss her again. He was fine leaving the kingdom in her hands; he knew she was more than capable. He didn't want to leave her so soon, though.

He looked back at Merlin. If there was a chance to live, even if he didn't like what it entailed, he would take it.

"How?" he finally asked.

Gaius leaned forward to explain, "The blade you were pierced with is no ordinary blade. It was a sword forged in a dragon's breath. No normal magic could hope to draw it out. There is a place, however, where it is possible. An ancient magic resides at the Lake of Avalon. There you could be healed."

Arthur nodded in understanding. He watched as Gaius got up and went to Merlin, supposedly to talk to him about the idea.

He dozed off a little, but was awake when he finally heard Merlin return to stand next to him.

"Arthur?" Merlin asked. Arthur turned his head in order to see Merlin better.

"We need to leave at first light," Merlin stated.

"I'll decide," Arthur declared, feeling the need to take control of the situation again. After all, he was the king, he was supposed to be the one making the orders.

Merlin looked close to tears as he pleaded, "I can't let you die."

Arthur would've felt sympathetic at Merlin's tears at any other time. But now all he felt was emptiness.

_It's his own fault he never told me. He doesn't deserve my sympathy._

"It doesn't change anything," Arthur said, then he turned his head to a more comfortable position to sleep again.

He barely heard Gaius tell Merlin, "Let him sleep. It's late." He was out before he heard anything else.

*****

Although Gaius had said that Merlin was right to tell Arthur about his magic, it didn't feel right. He doubted it would ever have felt right though. Why couldn't Arthur have guessed it and not been angry about it? Why did it have to be so complicated.

Morning came and Arthur decided to leave at first light. Gaius and Merlin both helped Arthur get onto his horse, then Merlin prepared his own horse.

He watched as Arthur gave the royal seal to Gaius, who seemed surprised. It was a smart decision on Arthur's part. Arthur and Merlin could very well get caught by Saxons, then subsequently by Morgana and die. There was a small part of Merlin, however, that felt hurt that Arthur didn't seem to trust Merlin with the royal seal.

Thankfully, it was only a small part of him. If he didn't succeed in saving Arthur, he didn't know if he would return to Camelot.

Gaius and Arthur finished talking, and Gaius came to give Merlin a goodbye.

"How long does he have?" Merlin asked quietly, hoping Arthur couldn't hear.

"At best, two days," Gaius answered. That wasn't good, but it could work.

Time to get going then.

Merlin moved to go to the front of the horses when Gaius called, "Merlin."

He turned around, then walked back, and he wrapped his arms around his mentor.

They pulled out of the embrace, and Gaius promised, "I'll have your favorite meal waiting for you."

Merlin didn't think he'd be going back, but he couldn't find the heart to say that, especially in front of Arthur.

"Now, go," Gaius ordered, "Look after him." Gaius backed up some more as Merlin looked at Arthur. "Go," he said last.

Merlin moved back towards the horses, then began to lead them. He looked back once at Gaius.

*****

They were riding across the plains when Arthur heard Merlin declare, "Saxons," and got off his horse.

He grabbed a blanket and was placing it over Arthur as he continued, "I'll deal with them. Keep your head down. Don't speak."

Arthur grasped the blanket, trying to cover all of his armor. He was mildly curious how Merlin was going to deal with them. Most likely he'd just blast them off the ground. It was simple and efficient.

Merlin stepped forward, then turned to the Saxons and waved to them.

"Help us!" he shouted to them. The Saxons came willingly towards them. "Please, you have to help us," Merlin fake-pleaded. "We were ambushed." The Saxons came closer. _Alright, Merlin, throw them with your magic and get it over with._

"By who?" one of the Saxons asked.

_Why aren't you attacking them, Merlin, while you have a clear advantage?_

"These two men," Merlin lied effortlessly. It was a believable enough lie. Two men were enough to ambush other two men, and to leave one of them injured.

"What did they look like?" the same Saxon asked again.

"Uh," Merlin scratched his head, trying to think up a good enough lie, and he looked back at Arthur for inspiration. Not that the Saxons knew that. They might've thought that he was looking back at his companion in order to remember. Arthur had tried to keep the sword's hilt covered, but the wind kept on blowing the blanket away from that place, and Arthur didn't want to risk exposing his armor to adjust it. "One was, uh, a knight. They stormed our camp," Merlin fake-explained.

_He's not going to attack them outright. He doesn't want to kill them. He's trying to trick them into leaving us alone,_ Arthur realized.

Merlin quickly went to Arthur's horse and covered the sword hilt while the Saxons looked rising smoke in the distance. Arthur wondered if perhaps Merlin had made the smoke come out of nowhere in order to make his lie more believable.

The Saxons turned around and walked towards them.

"You sure it was a Camelot knight?" the Saxon who had been speaking asked.

"Yeah," Merlin lied decently enough. They didn't seem to buy it though. The Saxon pushed Merlin out of the way and lifted the blanket off of Arthur. Seeing the Camelot hilt, they unsheathed their own swords.

Merlin thrust out his arms and the Saxons went flying, yelling.

Arthur watched them as they fell down the hill and most likely plummeted to their death.

Since he clearly knew that Merlin was lying to the Saxons, he recognized Merlin's expressions as very familiar ones. Merlin was a better liar and secret-keeper than Arthur gave him credit for.

"You've lied to me all this time," he declared bitterly.

Merlin made no response, just got back on his horse with a blank expression, and they set off again.

*****

Merlin was trying to light a fire with the flint. He was decently good at it, but tonight it didn't seem to want to light.

"Why don't you use magic?" Arthur asked wearily, startling Merlin.

"Habit, I suppose," Merlin admitted, looking back at Arthur. Arthur nodded his head, indicating that he gave his approval for Merlin using magic to light the fire.

Merlin looked back at the fire and lit it without saying anything. He was aware of Arthur's eyes on him the whole time, as they had been since he'd revealed he had magic.

"Feels strange," Merlin confessed quietly.

"Yeah," Arthur agreed tiredly, now staring at the fire.

Merlin got up and grabbed his own bedroll. He didn't really plan on sleeping all that much, since somebody had to keep watch and Arthur was in no shape to do it, but he might as well be comfortable.

"Thought I knew you," Arthur added, looking back at Merlin. Merlin tried to keep his face passive, but the statement stung. He felt that he deserved the hurt, though. He'd lied to his best friend for nearly ten years, and couldn't even protect him when it mattered most. He'd let him down terribly. Still, he wanted Arthur to know that the magic was the only thing he'd truly lied about.

"I'm still the same person," he declared, laying his blanket down.

"I trusted you," and Merlin felt himself melting even more into a pool of shame. Still, he tried not to let Arthur know how much this hurt him.

"I'm sorry," he apologized genuinely.

"I'm sorry, too," Arthur responded with a tone of regret. That mildly confused Merlin, but he didn't think much of it.

He then realized that Arthur still had his boots on, and rushed over to take them off for him.

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked gruffly.

"They need drying," Merlin stated simply, as if it was obvious. He then quickly finished his task. Arthur seemed to accept the answer, but Merlin still felt the king's gaze following him as he laid down on his own bedroll.

Shortly after, Arthur drifted off to sleep, and Merlin was stuck with his own thoughts and the dark night. He didn't sleep a wink. All too soon and yet much too late, morning came and Merlin got up and made some stew.

*****

"This will be good for you," Merlin declared, trying to get Arthur to eat from the spoon.

For some reason, it just annoyed Arthur. He stubbornly kept his mouth shut.

"You need to eat," Merlin tried again.

"Why are you doing this?" Arthur asked, searching Merlin's face. Merlin slowly put the spoon back into the bowl he had somehow balanced on his leg. "Why are you… still behaving like a servant?" Arthur added. He really wanted to know why. It was almost irritating him, that while he'd been cold to Merlin, Merlin had been nothing but nice to him. It would be enough that Merlin was taking him to the Lake of Avalon just to save Arthur's life. But Merlin gained nothing from still acting like a servant, when he could've gone to someone else, somewhere else, where he could be recognized and applauded for his talents. Arthur was fairly certain that Merlin would never have joined Morgana, but that didn't mean that Merlin had to stay as a lowly servant in order to not be evil.

Merlin set the bowl down, then leaned closer, his wise expression coming over his face.

"It's my destiny," Merlin declared, making Arthur wonder where in the world Merlin got his ideas about destiny, "As it has been, since the day we met."

The day they met. Memories of Merlin calling him an ass, and a prat, just for good measure, of chasing Merlin through the market place with a mace.

"I tried to take your head off with a mace," Arthur stated, reminiscing cheerfully.

"And I stopped you, using magic," Merlin admitted sheepishly.

Suddenly, the memories of a mace randomly getting stuck, a box coming out of nowhere, and somehow tripping over a rope fit into place. He knew it!

"You cheated," Arthur gaped.

"Yeah," Merlin laughed, then pointed out, "You were going to kill me."

"Should've," Arthur grumbled, the mood darkening instantly. If he had killed him, then at least he wouldn't have to deal with all of this. But, then he wouldn't have known Merlin, and he would quite possibly be dead. Then again, if he was dead, he still wouldn't have to deal with all this.

"I'm glad you didn't," Merlin responded.

Arthur scoffed. Of course he was glad, he didn't want to be dead. Why else hadn't he told Arthur about his magic?

Merlin leaned closer, then continued earnestly, "I also do this because of who you are. Without you, Camelot's nothing."

Arthur looks up at Merlin, feeling strangely as if nothing has changed, and it's Merlin spouting off random wisdom again. Perhaps it still is.

"There was a time when that was true. Not now," Arthur admitted, disagreeing, "There are many who can fill the crown." If Arthur died, Guinevere would rule splendidly in his stead.

Merlin shook his head, smiling as if he'd expected Arthur's statement, and declared proudly, "There'll never be another like you, Arthur."

Arthur didn't understand how Merlin was the way he was. A sorcerer, yet still proud of a king who had kept sorcery outlawed. Arthur realized he may never know how Merlin was the way he was. He had all the puzzle pieces, supposedly aligned, but the picture still made absolutely no sense.

Merlin grabbed the stew once more, and held Arthur's head up.

"I also do this," Merlin confessed, as he held the spoon to Arthur's mouth, "Because you're my friend and I don't want to lose you."

Arthur swallowed slowly and gratefully.

Hadn't Arthur said something much like that once to Merlin?

*****

They were taking a short break after riding, and Arthur was sitting on a log. He'd gotten his question of why Merlin still behaved like a servant answered… well, the only answer he was going to get out of Merlin, even if it still didn't quite make sense. But he still wondered why Merlin hadn't told him about his magic. Why he had lied. Why he hadn't trusted him.

He also felt just a tiny bit grateful that Merlin had told him, even if it took a long time. It was better to hear it from Merlin then to randomly find out about it. It felt good to know that at least Merlin trusted him enough now.

Accidentally sliding forwards, he nearly crashed into the forest floor when he heard Merlin come rushing back.

"Arthur! You need to hold on," Merlin ordered, then holding him up, repeated gently, "One more day. One more day."

Merlin dabbed Arthur's face with a piece of cloth to wipe the sweat, then put it away. He started taking the lid off of the water skin.

"Why did you never tell me?" Arthur asked, swaying a little.

"I wanted to, but…" Merlin started explaining, then paused.

"What?" Arthur encouraged him to continue.

"You'd have chopped my head off," Merlin stated simply, then he held the water skin up to Arthur's mouth.

There had been no doubt in his words at all. He didn't think he'd be accepted, or banished, or even burned at the stake. He thought Arthur would behead him, and that would be the end of it.

Perhaps Merlin was sure of what Arthur would've done, but Arthur wasn't. He certainly wasn't sure what to do now.

"Not sure what I would've done," Arthur amended, after drinking the water.

"And I didn't want to put you in that position," Merlin admitted quietly.

Arthur looked up at him in surprise.

"That's what worried you," he realized aloud. Of course Merlin wouldn't have been worried about himself dying. Not that he would've wanted to die, but that wasn't what kept him from telling Arthur. It was that he didn't want Arthur to feel hurt… or to have to condemn his best friend to death, only to realize later that he wished he hadn't.

The hurt from the lies was mostly washed away from that revelation.

"Some men are born to… plow fields. Some live to be great physicians, others… to be great kings. Me? I was born to serve you, Arthur, and I'm proud of that. And I wouldn't change a thing," Merlin explained in his "wise" voice. After they stared at each other for a little bit, Merlin asked, "Ready?"

Arthur nodded, and they got back on their horses.

*****

They were riding through the forest when Merlin caught sight smoke. Quickly, he motioned his hand for Arthur to stop.

"Saxons," he heard Arthur declare behind him, apparently having seen the smoke as well.

Merlin, channeling his magic, swiftly viewed the path ahead. It was just an old smoking campfire, no Saxons to be seen.

"They're long gone," Merlin assured Arthur.

"How do you know?" Arthur asked, sounding curious.

"I can… see the path ahead," Merlin explained, somewhat awkwardly.

"So, you're not an idiot, that was another lie," Arthur declared, in such a way like he wanted Merlin to prove him wrong.

"No," Merlin replied, looking back with a grin, "It's just another part of my charm."

He then turned, urging his horse forward.

He didn't know why that had just given him the weirdest sense of déjà vu.

*****

They'd been riding for a while in the forest, Merlin seemingly constantly looking back at Arthur, when Merlin pulled up his hand. Then, Arthur heard it. Voices. Saxons were near.

"In there," Merlin gestured with his head, then turning his horse, led the way into a relatively good hiding spot. Arthur urged his horse to follow him.

They dismounted, then stayed hidden in the foliage. They watched as the Saxons came into view.

Merlin moved closer to the opening, whispering something that sounded to Arthur like, "Un sleet a", though he was sure it wasn't that. Leaves silently moved to cover their tracks. Merlin didn't say anything next, but Arthur had already observed that Merlin didn't always need words to use magic, so he was fairly certain that it was also Merlin who caused some leaves to rustle in the opposite direction that they were in, leading the Saxons astray.

"You've done this before," Arthur realized aloud. Merlin looked back at him with an unreadable expression, then resumed watching the Saxons. "All these years, Merlin, you never once sought any credit." Arthur was mildly marveled at that. But, it was such a Merlin thing to do. He was reminded of something Gwaine had once said, that Merlin just did things for the good of doing them. Magic didn't seem to change that, only enhance it.

"That's not why I do it," Merlin replied, as if to confirm his thoughts. "Come on," and he threw Arthur's arm around his shoulder to help him back to the horses. Arthur's gaze lingered thoughtfully on the path ahead of them for just a few more seconds.

*****

Merlin looked over his shoulder back at Arthur, as he had been doing frequently during the trip, calling "Arthur?"

Arthur looked nearly unconscious on his horse, leaning dangerously on it. One wrong jostle and Arthur could fall off.

Merlin climbed down his own horse and came over to Arthur. He pushed him up.

Arthur opened his eyes and gasped breathily, "I can't go on."

"There's not far to go," Merlin protested. "We need to reach the lake before morning."

"No, Merlin… no," Arthur whispered weakly.

Merlin gulped, "Alright. We rest for an hour."

He led their horses over to a suitable resting spot, then started a small campfire with magic quickly.

After helping Arthur to get down to a log he could lean on and giving him some water, Merlin was constantly checking around them cautiously. He really didn't want any Saxons or Morgana to catch them unawares.

"Merlin," Arthur started, grabbing Merlin's attention, "Whatever happens…"

"Shh," Merlin tried to get Arthur to shut up, "Don't talk." The more Arthur talked, the less energy he would have later.

Arthur ignored him, as usual, "I'm the king, Merlin. You can't tell me what to do."

"I always have. I'm not going to change now," Merlin replied softly.

"I don't want you to change," Arthur declared suddenly. "I want you… to always… be you." Merlin looked at him in surprise. Did this mean Arthur accepted him?

Arthur tried to talk again, but his mouth wasn't seeming to cooperate very well.

He tried again, "I'm sorry about how I treated you."

Arthur looked like he would've liked to say more, but was exhausted. He slumped forward, and closed his eyes.

Merlin sensed that Arthur would also like to hear Merlin respond before he fell asleep.

"Hey," he lowered down so that he was at eye level with Arthur, grinning, "Does that mean you're going to give me a day off?"

Arthur opened his eyes with great effort and offered, "Two."

"That's generous," Merlin jokingly claimed. Arthur looked back at him with a smile and raised eyebrows, then leaned forward and closed his eyes again.

Worried, Merlin checked Arthur's pulse in his neck. Thankfully, it was beating as it had been during the whole journey.

Trying to hold back tears, Merlin continued to hold up Arthur's cheek.

"Get some sleep," Merlin suggested softly, doubtful that Arthur could still hear him.

Merlin resumed keeping watch, overwhelmed with both happy and sad emotions from the turn of events.

*****

Arthur woke up, being shaken gently.

He heard Merlin's soft voice say, "Arthur. We need to get moving." Moving? Arthur could just stay asleep. Sleeping felt good.

Merlin shook him more roughly, "Arthur!" Arthur woke up fully this time, locking his eyes onto Merlin's. "We've wasted enough time," Merlin declared, starting to pull Arthur up. Arthur complied, though he was still tired. He leaned heavily against Merlin.

After the hour break, they continued riding in the dark. Arthur wished he could just lie down and sleep, for in his sleep the pain seemed to go away. However, he knew that if he slept too much, sometime he would never wake up again.

He was glad that Merlin was so bound and determined to get to the lake. It helped keep Arthur focused on the task at hand, and not on the constant pain.

After a while, Arthur was struggling to stay awake again. Merlin seemed to sense this and jumped off his own horse.

"Let's take a short break," he suggested, reaching out his arms to haul Arthur off of his own horse.

Arthur barely took notice that Merlin was, very slightly, smiling right now. Most of the journey Merlin had been either stoic or teary-eyed, except for the occasional joke.

Merlin helped Arthur over to a sizable rock, which was near a ledge. It was nearly morning once again, and they could actually see past the ledge.

Excited, Merlin pointed in the distance, and Arthur followed the point with his gaze tiredly. There was a lake with an isle.

"Avalon," Merlin explained happily. "We'll get there."

Arthur was inclined to agree with him. Seeing how close it was gave Arthur the hope and strength to hold on for just a little while longer.

*****

**Author's Note**

For some reason before I wrote this I thought it would be a fairly short chapter. Little did I know I'd spend nearly 6 hours on it! I decided to put most of Arthur and Merlin's scenes from the Diamond of the Day Part 2 in this chapter with no interruptions from our other Camelot peeps. I didn't really change anything from the episode, just delved into their thoughts and added a little more.

I think it's realistic that Arthur didn't immediately just accept that Merlin had lied to him for the whole time that they'd known each other. Imagine how hurt Merlin would be if the roles were reversed. Actually, Arthur still accepted him pretty quickly (after like two days. Two days!) and his problem didn't seem to be with the fact that Merlin had magic and was thus evil; it was that Merlin had lied to him and he felt betrayed because of that. He even suggested to Gaius that they send Merlin back to Camelot to tell Guinevere about Arthur being injured. If he thought that Merlin was evil, he would've wanted to keep him as far away from Gwen as possible. He didn't understand magic, and was clearly uncomfortable with it, but he still didn't just jump to the conclusion that Merlin was evil despite all that he'd been taught while he was growing up.

In the next chapter, we'll have the other scenes from the episode. I tweaked significantly more events in that one and their timing, since Eira isn't evil in this storyline.

P.S. It's amazing how much easier it is to watch the Diamond of the Day when you pretend the ending never happened.


	8. Where's the King?

Leon approached the royal chambers with a heavy heart. Arthur was seemingly nowhere to be found.

Opening the door without knocking, he found Guinevere standing, staring out of the window at the courtyard.

He took a few steps forward to be closer to her and reported, "Three more patrols have returned from the White Mountains, my lady. There is no sign of him."

She remained turned away from him, and declared, "He must be somewhere."

"We have spoken to every villager--every man, woman, child. There has been no word," he replied.

"He is out there," she announced softly.

He nodded, "We will keep searching." It was the least they could do. As long as his body wasn't found yet, there was still hope. Leon didn't have much of an idea of where Arthur could be if they hadn't found him yet, but there was still a chance he was living.

"He is alive. I know it," she declared resolutely. Rubbing her eyes, she added, "I can feel it."

Leon moved to leave the chambers when she turned around and asked, "Who else is still unaccounted for?"

He looked back at her and answered, "Gaius."

She looked surprised as she further asked, "He's not been seen?"

"Not since the battle," Leon explained. "And no one has seen Merlin since before the battle."

With that, he left the chambers.

*****

After leaving Arthur and Merlin, Gaius raced back to Camelot as fast as he could. No doubt Gwen was desperate to hear about Arthur.

Upon entering the courtyard, Gaius was helped down his horse by Gwaine, then a guard led the horse to the stables.

Turning to Gwaine, Gaius announced, "I need to see the queen. Where is she?"

Gwaine nodded, then patiently yet quickly led Gaius in the direction, answering, "Where she usually is. She's been watching the courtyard; I'm sure she'll have seen your arrival and is hurrying."

Gaius had wanted to speak to Gwen alone, but Gwaine stubbornly stayed beside him. In a hallway Guinevere ran up and joined them.

"Gaius," she greeted hastily.

"My lady," he said in response.

"Tell me," she begged, not needing to specify her question.

"He's alive," Gaius announced. Guinevere gave a sigh of relief, pulling her hand over her face and clutching her other arm over her stomach.

"Then why isn't he with you?" asked Gwaine, looking piercingly at Gaius.

"He's wounded," Gaius further explained, sighing.

The slight relief on Gwen's face from hearing Arthur was alive dissipated as new fear took over.

Pulling the royal seal out so that they could see it, Gaius added, "He wanted me to give you this, my lady."

Eyes widening as she recognized what was in his hand, Guinevere took the royal seal and cried, "Where is he?"

"There is a place where he may be saved. Merlin is taking him there as we speak," Gaius continued to explain.

"Well, we must send the knights," Guinevere declared, then turned to Gwaine and ordered, "Ready as many men as you can." Gwaine nodded and almost moved to do as he was told.

"Uh, no, milady," Gaius quickly interjected. "Merlin can cope by himself."

"Merlin?" Gwen asked, worried.

"You must trust him," Gaius stated.

"How can one man be as strong as an army?" Guinevere protested shrilly. _If only you knew_ , Gaius thought.

"Morgana's forces are still searching for Arthur," Gaius pointed out. "Two men traveling alone stand a much better chance at evading her, especially since she has no idea where they're heading."

"And Merlin would be the best option of any man. He's a trained physician and knows how to be sneaky when he needs to be. He may not be as good a fighter as the knights, but neither are the Saxons. We all know he would protect and take care of Arthur with all his might," Gwaine quickly, and suspiciously to Gaius, added.

Guinevere nodded, seemingly persuaded by the two of them though still concerned for Arthur.

"Okay," she breathed. "But if they don't return in two days we must send out patrols to look for them. What is the place called?"

"It's the Lake of Avalon," Gaius explained.

Guinevere nodded, then took her leave with, "Excuse me." She turned around and went back the way she had come.

Gwaine and Gaius looked at each other briefly, then parted ways.

Heading back to the courtyard, Gaius quickly found Daegal helping some of the injured.

Daegal noticed him and greeted worriedly, "Gaius!" The boy quickly rushed up to him. "You're back! Where's Merlin? Where's the King? How are they?"

Gaius smiled, "One question at a time, boy."

"Sorry," Daegal quickly apologized with a sheepish grin.

Gaius sighed, the mood darkening instantly, "Arthur is critically wounded, and Merlin is taking him somewhere to save him. He also told the King the truth."

"He did?" Daegal asked, utterly surprised. "Is the king angry at him?"

"Arthur was upset, yes, but if I know either of them they'll do just fine," Gaius explained, smiling. "I think we're going to have to deal with quite a few changes around here pretty soon."

*****

Guinevere was both relieved and worried by the news. Arthur was alive, Merlin was with him, but Arthur was wounded. There was a place where he could be saved, but the two had to travel through the lands crawling with Saxons currently. It wasn't that she doubted Merlin's ability to keep Arthur safe; but she doubted any one man would be able to.

She was incredibly concerned that Arthur felt the need to give the royal seal to Gaius. That told her that Arthur not only thought he was going to die, he thought Merlin may die as well or else he might've given it to Merlin.

After thinking about that for a little bit, she suddenly burst into tears. After a minute or two, she stopped.

She'd been feeling very emotional lately, having headaches, and just generally not feeling great, but she attributed it to the worry.

*****

After hearing about Arthur and Merlin, Gwaine returned to his chambers. While he'd been gone at Camlann, Eira had completely cleaned them in gratitude for letting her stay there. She was nowhere to be seen when he entered his chambers, though. Perhaps she was helping the injured. She was remarkable.

He didn't know what to think. Arthur was wounded seriously, by the sounds of it, that Merlin couldn't even heal him. But Merlin could supposedly heal him at the Lake of Avalon.

If Merlin had to heal Arthur, that meant that Arthur would finally be aware of Merlin's magic. Gwaine hoped that the King wouldn't be stupid with that realization.

And Morgana was still lurking out there somewhere. He guessed that Merlin could beat her since he practically handled half an army by himself, but Morgana was sneaky and not afraid of playing dirty.

As he was mulling over these thoughts staring out of his window, Eira startled him by asking, "What is it?"

Turning towards her, he tried to convince her, "Nothing."

"You're a terrible liar, Gwaine. It's something," Eira disagreed. "Would it feel better if you told me?"

Gwaine reached up to cup her cheek, then smiled, "Probably."

She smiled back at him, then went back to serious as she pressed, "So, what is it?"

Sighing, Gwaine explained, "The King is injured and has to travel somewhere in order to be healed. We don't know much besides that. Merlin is with him."

Eira touched his arm and comforted him, "I'm sure they'll be alright. Morgana won't win. She can't."

Pulling his arm around his shoulders, he embraced her gently, kissing the top of her hair.

They remained like that for a while, until Gwaine had to return to his duties.

*****

Late the next day, Gwaine and Percival were leading a small patrol to make sure there weren't any Saxons near the castle. They'd only run into one small group earlier that day.

They were on their way back to Camelot when suddenly some of their men flew through the air, unconscious.

_Magic_ , Gwaine thought frantically, _And it's against us. Morgana! Where's Merlin when you need him? Oh, yeah, taking care of Arthur._

Morgana had a few Saxons with her who helped attack the other Camelot knights. Between the Saxons and Morgana attacking them, Gwaine and Percival quickly became the last of their group standing. Their patrol had managed to take out all of the Saxons but that didn't mean anything if Morgana was still completely fine.

Gwaine and Percival tried to surround her and trick her, but she quickly threw them to the ground.

Morgana smirked down at them, "Hello. Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you just yet. You two are going to tell me exactly where your king is."

Then everything went black.

*****

Gwaine didn't want to wake up, but unfortunately he did, coughing. He was aware that he wasn't laying down or sitting, his hands tied to something and holding him in an odd position. His whole body was sore. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes. He instantly wished he hadn't. Morgana was standing right in front of him with an ominous-looking box in her arms. He tried to glare at her as best he could. It only made her more delighted.

"Tell me where the king is," she demanded quickly.

Eyeing her and her box, Gwaine answered stubbornly, "I'd rather die."

She seemed to expect this answer and responded, "Well, you shall your wish… once you've told me." She knelt down, beginning to open her box, and continued, "Not even you, Sir Knight, can resist the charms of the Nathair."

Nathair! Gwaine remembered that Morgana had once tortured Elyan into giving her information with that foul creature. He didn't want to be attacked by the Nathair!

The Nathair, a small black snake, hissed, raising its head out of the box. Gwaine desperately tried to get away from it, but to no avail. Morgana smiled cruelly, then grasped it and planted it on his head.

It hurt more than Gwaine could've ever imagined. Pure agony. Gwaine screamed and screamed, feeling as if his head would explode.

Morgana pulled it back for a moment, offering, "If you tell me where your king is, you won't have to suffer anymore."

Gwaine was dazed for a second before vehemently shaking his head. He would never betray the King or Merlin. If he was to die in agony for them, so be it.

Morgana only smirked and continued the torture. She enjoyed doing this; that much was clear.

*****

**Author's Note**

Poor Gwaine and Percival, they still get caught by Morgana. But at least this time it wasn't because of their own stupid mistakes.

First time having Daegal actually in here rather than just mentioned. I watched all his scenes from The Hollow Queen right before I wrote it, so I hope I got it right.

The next chapter will wrap up the Diamond of the Day Part 2! We're nearly to the turning point!


	9. Save the World in Disguise

It was late the next day after hearing about Arthur's situation that Guinevere was contemplating something.

Actually, she was contemplating many things. It seemed like her head was spinning around in circles.

The topics that seemed to be swirling in her mind were Arthur, Merlin, and the sorcerer.

She'd finally remembered where she'd seen the sorcerer before. He'd taken her place when she'd been accused of planting a poultice in Arthur's chambers to make him fall in love with her.

She didn't know where he'd come from. She thought Morgana was behind the whole thing, she'd told Merlin that, then the sorcerer came out of nowhere and…

Merlin. The sorcerer. Merlin, the sorcerer?

It had never occurred to her before.

Merlin was strange, but he'd always been strange. It was a part of his personality.

But Merlin wasn't stupid, why would he come to Camelot, a magic-hating kingdom, if he was a sorcerer?

Then again, she'd heard that Essetir wasn't much better off. She'd heard that back when Cenred ruled they'd enslaved sorcerers for the army, unless you were of noble blood.

She'd rather come to Camelot and face death than live in Essetir and face enslavement.

She didn't doubt Merlin would, too.

He'd been in countless dangerous situations, constantly at Arthur's side. There were many times that by all rights they should not have survived. Yet they did.

They shouldn't be able to fight against magic so easily. Sorcerers could toss you in the air with just a flick of their hand.

Yet they'd conquered over Morgana time and time again. And Merlin was always there.

He was the kind of person who just did things for the good of doing them. He never expected any recognition, disliked it, even.

If she were a sorcerer, and she could not help but be near the heart of Camelot, she'd pretend to be an idiot, so that no one would ever guess that she was a sorcerer.

Merlin had been accused of sorcery back in Uther's reign, though she had too so that didn't necessarily mean anything.

But there were other things, things she hadn't thought much about because he was just Merlin. Yet if it had been anyone else she would have wondered about it.

_(Excerpt from Lamia, Season 4 Episode 8)_

_Merlin stands looking out the doorway while Gwen is tending to Elyan._

_"I don't understand it. Why have only the knights been enchanted? Why not us as well?" she says._

_Merlin glances back, then continues looking out of the doorway and replies, "You're a woman."_

_"So?" she asks, incredulous._

_"All her victims have been men," he explains, not looking at her._

_"So why haven't you fallen under her spell?" she points out._

_"I've just been lucky, I s'pose," he suggests._

_"There must be a reason," she disagrees._

_"Maybe it's because I'm not a knight," he spits out quickly._

_"The three villagers weren't knights either," she points out._

_"Who knows?" Merlin looks back at her and shrugs._

_Gwen shakes her head, "There's something about you, Merlin. It's the way she looks at you, as if you were the enemy."_

_They both hear an unearthly scream._

_Merlin orders, "Whatever you do, don't leave this room," and leaves the room himself._

She remembered the Lamia incident those few years ago, and wondered some more. If she could look up Lamias in the library, maybe she'd find something. She would have researched back then, but she remembered what followed that incident, pushing any memories of Lamia to the back of her mind until now.

_(Excerpt from The Mark of Nimueh, Season 1, Episode 3)_

_Gwen is happily humming while cleaning Morgana's chambers, for her father had miraculously recovered._

_Merlin enters, and asks with a knowing smile, "How's your father? Is he feeling better?"_

_"Yes, it's incredible. It's a miracle," she responds joyfully._

_"His skin's clear; back to normal?" he asks further._

_"Yes," Gwen confirms._

_"Great," Merlin grins. He moves to leave._

_"You don't seem surprised," Gwen points out._

_"Uh, no, no, I am," Merlin stammers. "It's a miracle."_

_"But how did you know he was well?" Gwen asks, taking a step forward._

_Merlin accidentally lets the door close and glances at it before coming up with an excuse, "Uh, because you're smiling."_

_"That's really weird because I haven't told anyone, but you know," Gwen accuses him._

_Merlin is still smiling, but he does look a little wary as he eyes Gwen._

_"How could you know?" she asks._

_"Yeah, alright, you finally figured it out. I'll tell you," he says seriously, then takes a few steps forward. "I'm psychic."_

_Gwen laughs, "No, you're not."_

_"It's true!" Merlin protests with a grin._

_"Alright, what am I thinking?" she asks._

_Merlin scrunches his eyes and decides, "That I'm not psychic."_

_"You're strange," Gwen laughs, then quickly explains, "I, I, I don't, I don't mean that in a nasty way. You're just… funny. I like that."_

_Merlin smiles at this, and says, "Well, I'm pleased for you."_

_"Thank you," she responds quickly._

_"What for?" he asks, the look of wariness coming back a little._

_"Don't know, just for asking," she replies._

_"I didn't like to see you upset," he explains. "I have to… get on." They wave each other goodbye, and Merlin leaves._

Apparently, a magical poultice had been found underneath her father's pillow. And she'd heard rumors that Merlin had tried to take her place by declaring himself as the sorcerer to the whole court. Nobody had believed him because Arthur vouched that he was not the sorcerer. Nobody else had been healed besides her father until the Afanc had been killed.

_(Excerpt from The Queen of Hearts, Season 3, Episode 10)_

_Gwen is sentenced to death when Merlin comes to visit her. He's brought food. They talk about Arthur._

_"We need to find the person who really planted the poultice," Merlin declares. "Do you have any idea who it might've been?"_

_Gwen hesitates._

_"What is it?" Merlin asks gently._

_Gwen walks over to the bars to make sure no one is listening._

_"After I was sentenced to death, I was being led out. I looked back and I saw that Morgana was smiling," she whispers._

_Merlin doesn't look surprised._

_"You probably think I'm mad," Gwen says quickly._

_"No," he shakes his head. The guards come back to let Merlin out of the cell._

_He continues, "No, I don't doubt…"_

_"I can no longer trust her," Gwen says quickly before Merlin has to leave. "I've started to wonder it wasn't a coincidence that Uther and Morgana found us in the woods."_

_Merlin looks like he believes her, but Gwen knows that if Morgana really is to blame, there is no hope. Uther won't believe it._

Yet Dragoon the Great appeared out of absolutely nowhere with a matching poultice, letting himself get caught, and apparently Merlin had been to the tavern and let the old man run straight past him.

_(Excerpt from Valiant, Season 1, Episode 2)_

_Merlin is sitting on the steps of the castle._

_Gwen goes up to him, greeting him, "Hello, Merlin."_

_"Alright?" he asks as she sits down beside him._

_"Is it true what you said about Valiant using magic?" she asks, worried._

_Merlin nods._

_"What are you going to do?" she asks, now more worried._

_Merlin gives a wry smile and bitterly remarks, "Why does everyone seem to think that it's down to me to do something about it?"_

_"Because it is, isn't it?" she points out. "You have to show everyone that you were right and they were wrong."_

_Merlin nods, a little sarcastically, but turns to Gwen and asks, "And how do I do that?"_

_"I don't know," Gwen admits._

_They look away from each other, apparently trying to think up a plan or something._

_Suddenly, Merlin whispers, "That's it."_

_Gwen follows his gaze. He's staring a dog statue. Abruptly, he gets up and starts walking towards it._

_"Where are you going?" she asks, getting up as well and following him._

_Merlin reaches the statue and tries to pull it. Turning to Gwen, he randomly asks, "Do you have a wheelbarrow?"_

Later that day, the snakes had come out of the shield, and Valiant had looked surprised. Merlin hadn't been at the arena when the fight had started, but she noticed him there when it ended, since Arthur had given him a friendly punch in the arm.

Would spells to turn a dog statue into a dog be similar to turn drawn snakes into real snakes?

_(Excerpt from Sweet Dreams, Season 2, Episode 2)_

_Merlin is trying to explain something to Gwen. Gwen isn't really listening._

_"He's enchanted!" he nearly shouts._

_"Yes, with the Lady Vivian, I can see that!" Gwen argues bitterly._

_"No, I mean literally enchanted! With magic, potions, love juice, none of his feelings are genuine!" Merlin protests._

_"How can you be sure?" she asks, not daring to hope. "When I saw him his feelings seemed real enough."_

_"Gwen, none of his feelings for Vivian are real," he continues to try to explain. "But if you do not break the spell, his death will be. Search your heart. You know who he loves."_

So she'd kissed Arthur and the spell had been broken. But Merlin had never explained how he'd known Arthur was enchanted.

_(Excerpt from The Poisoned Chalice, Season 1, Episode 4)_

_Gwen is dabbing Merlin's forehead with a rag._

_"He's getting hotter," she explains to Gaius. Gaius comes over to sit beside her._

_Merlin is muttering something that is incomprehensible to Gwen._

_Gaius is looking at Gwen instead of Merlin, as if waiting for her to respond to the muttering._

_"What language is that?" she asks him._

_"None," Gaius responds quickly. "The fever's taken hold. None of those words are his own."_

Why had she expected Merlin to know another language? Supposedly, those words weren't supposed to make any sense… but she wouldn't know exactly what the language of the Old Religion would sound like, now would she. And she'd heard from Morgana how Arthur had had a ball of light guide him out of the cave.

There were other incidents, little puzzle pieces fitting together. She decided that Gaius was the only one who could tell her the truth as of right now. She was nearly convinced, but she didn't dare assume and then be completely wrong.

She called for the guards to fetch her the Court Physician.

*****

She heard footsteps, and turned around. Sure enough, Gaius had arrived to the throne room.

"You called for me, my lady," Gaius greeted her, curious.

"I want to thank you, Gaius," she admitted with a smile.

"What for?" he asked, now very curious.

"Telling me about how Arthur was, and taking care of him while you were there. I shall forever be in your debt. And Merlin's," she explained. "Was it he that found Arthur?"

"He's a good servant," Gaius seemingly avoided the question. It wasn't like he had to; it was a simple enough question.

"He's always been there, at Arthur's side," Gwen agreed.

"Indeed," Gaius replied, looking wary now.

Guinevere took a few steps forward. Now to get the information she wanted.

"The sorcerer in the battle… you knew who he was," she pointed out.

Gaius hesitated to answer, but eventually he did with a, "Yes."

"Do I know him?" she asked. When Gaius failed to answer, she pleaded earnestly, "Please, Gaius, answer me honestly."

After a few seconds, he finally answered, "Yes."

That must mean…

"He'll take good care of Arthur," Gaius added with a smile.

"Yes, I'm sure he will," Guinevere whole-heartedly agreed. "I'm pleased."

Gaius then bowed his head and took his leave, leaving the Queen to think over this new idea.

_Poor Merlin_ , she thought sadly, _How could we be so blind?_

She silently vowed that no longer would he have to hide. If he didn't already reveal himself to Arthur during their journey, she would help Arthur into the reveal.

Here, finally, was solid proof that sorcerers could be selfless people too. That all some of them wanted was to be accepted by their friends and family.

_(Excerpt from The Dragon's Call, Season 1, Episode 1)_

_Merlin is in the stocks. Gwen has already introduced herself to him._

_"Well, I’m glad you walked away," she admits. "You weren't going to beat him."_

_"Oh, why, I could beat him," Merlin declares._

_"You think?" she eyes him curiously. He definitely could not beat Arthur. "Because you don't look like one of these big, muscly kind of fellows."_

_"Thanks…" Merlin says awkwardly._

_Gwen realizes her mistake and protests, "No, no! I'm sure you're stronger than you look. It's just… umm… Arthur's one of these rough, tough, save-the-world kind of men and… Well…"_

_"What?" he asks._

_"You don't look like that," she announces._

_Merlin gestures for her to come closer, looking from side to side, as if he's going to tell her a secret._

_She leans closer, and he whispers, "I'm in disguise."_

Yes, she supposed he really was. He'd been saving the world in disguise more than she'd ever imagined. Perhaps more so than Arthur.

*****

Percival woke up to hearing screaming. More specifically, Gwaine screaming.

He quickly recalled what had last happened. No doubt Morgana was torturing the knight into telling her where Arthur was.

Feeling sick at what was being done to his fellow knight and resolving to save him, Percival tried to break his bonds.

The screaming eerily continued.

Desperate, Percival pulled on the rope that was holding in place once more. Groaning and straining, he pulled on it until it finally broke.

Rushing over to where the sound had come from, he found Gwaine, on the fence of consciousness, tied between two trees. Morgana was nowhere to be seen, thankfully.

Gwaine looked horrible. He was barely alive.

Percival held Gwaine's head in his hands, the other knight too weak to do so himself.

"She's riding for Avalon," Gwaine managed to say. "I failed."

"No, Gwaine, you haven't," Percival strongly protested. Gwaine fell unconscious quickly, though.

Hoisting Gwaine up on his shoulder, Percival started the trek back to Camelot. He needed to get Gwaine to Gaius soon.

*****

The sun was just rising when Merlin and Arthur finally reached the Lake of Avalon. Merlin's eyes were darting around everywhere, certain that everything could not possibly have gone this smoothly. Something always went wrong.

Arthur was visibly weakening but still holding on. He'd stayed mostly awake for the final stretch.

Dismounting from his horse, Merlin tied their horses to a tree and gently helped Arthur down. Finding a boat not far away, he quickly used his instinctive magic to pull it close to their shore.

Jogging back to Arthur, he lifted the King into his arms. Arthur grunted but otherwise didn't protest.

"C'mon, we're nearly there. We just have to make it to the island," Merlin assured Arthur. Arthur turned his head to observe the lake but said nothing in response.

Placing Arthur comfortably in the boat, Merlin grabbed only a few supplies then climbed in himself.

" _Astyre_ ," Merlin incanted, and the boat moved.

"What does… that mean?" Arthur asked quietly, curious.

Merlin looked at Arthur in surprise, then smiled and explained, "It means 'I guide'."

Arthur nodded, understanding. Then he asked, "Why is it… sometimes... you have to… say a spell… while other times… you don’t?"

"You shouldn't be talking so much," Merlin reprimanded softly. "You need to save your strength."

Arthur slightly scowled but nodded. He continued to look at Merlin expectantly for the answer to his question, though.

"Some magic may be used instinctively, if you are born with an innate ability towards magic. The instinctive magic generally doesn't require words, but there are spells that could do what some can do instinctively. Sometimes you can incant in your mind, and thus you don't have to say anything, but this requires quite a bit of focus. Most times, you have to actually say the spell in order for it to work properly. You have to direct it the right way and pronounce it correctly," Merlin explained.

Arthur stared at Merlin for a moment. Merlin was about to continue, when he felt something pull on his magical instincts.

"Merlin," Arthur began again. Merlin knew Arthur wasn't going to shut up this time. "I want to say… that for… everything… you've done… the kingdom you… helped me build… though I didn't… deserve… your loyalty… thank you."

Merlin glanced around the lake, then pulled Arthur into an embrace.

"You could've done it without me… but… you're welcome," Merlin replied.

*****

Their boat drifted to the shore of the island, but Merlin made no move to help Arthur out of the boat.

Something just felt _wrong._

"What is it?" Arthur asked, whispering.

"I don't know," Merlin responded, looking around cautiously. "Stay there."

Merlin jumped off of the boat into the water, then, placing his hand on the side of the boat, whispered, " _Scildan._ " At least Arthur wouldn't be completely without protection if there proved to be something dangerous out there.

Merlin stepped onto the isle, glancing earnestly around. The temple stood in ruins, but magic still emanated from it.

He seemed to find nothing and began to head back to Arthur when he heard Arthur give a strained shout of, "Watch out!"

Merlin felt his arm practically burst into flames, and he unintentionally let out a scream. As his magic reacted to it and extinguished the flames, Merlin pushed away the agony and spun around to find whoever had done this. He knew the probably answer, but still that didn't mean he should assume.

He got one glimpse of Morgana when she then raised her hand up and incanted, " _Hleap on baec!_ "

Merlin, still processing this turn of events, didn't react quickly enough and went flying, his head colliding harshly with a column. His vision went blurry but he refused to give up. Arthur needed him now more than ever; Morgana would NOT win.

" _Wæter, gealgian se cynewyrðe Arthur_ ," he groaned, and instantly the waves obeyed him, crowding around the boat which still bore Arthur protectively.

"Hello, Emrys," Morgana mocked, stepping closer to him. "Still protecting the man who killed our kind? You could've been so much more, yet you chose to degrade and disgrace yourself."

"You've killed more innocent lives than he has, and you weren't under Uther's order to do so," Merlin disagreed coldly, standing up to glare her down. "You claim to fight for those with magic yet you kill them as well. You only fight for yourself, Morgana, you always have."

"I fight when others refuse to!" she snarled, backing up from him as he took a step forward. "You just stood there and watched as our people were slaughtered left and right! You're a traitor to your own kind, Merlin!"

"Not all those who have magic are my 'kind'. My kind are my friends, and my family," he pointed out.

"And wasn't I your friend once?! Yet you turned your back on me!" she screamed, suddenly more vulnerable.

"I tried to help you!" Merlin protested desperately. "I just didn't know how! I'm sorry!"

Morgana looked at him for a second before shouting, " _Sceaduwe, hiersumap me! Bebiede se deorcnysse forþrysman hine!_ "

A cloud of darkness appeared from nowhere and raced towards Merlin, surrounding him.

Merlin barely had enough time to yell, " _Scildan!"_

Instantly a gold shield flared up around him, but the shadows pushed on it everywhere, trying to break in. He was trapped. He could see nothing besides the shield.

Somewhere he heard Morgana cackle at his predicament. Wryly, he thought of Kilgharrah's pronouncement that she was the darkness to his light.

The darkness to his light…

The darkness penetrated through the shield and began to wrap around him, choking him.

" _Leoht, forsceadan seo sceaduwe,_ " he gasped, and a ball of light pulsed in his hand. It swiftly flared up, then disappeared, taking the shadows with it.

Morgana was staring at him, jaw hanging wide open. Then she closed her mouth and shrieked, " _Eorþe, hiersumap me! Ácwele hine!_ "

The ground tried to swallow him whole and pieces of the temple came loose and shot themselves at him. Wordlessly, he sent Morgana flying, then quickly pulled his arms over his head protectively. His legs were being pulled into the ground and his upper body was being viciously attacked by rocks. He couldn't get enough breath to say a spell, and he could hardly incant one in his head.

That left his instinctive magic.

He lashed out with his magic and threw Morgana quite a distance under the waves. As she lost air, she relented her hold on her enchantment. The bits of earth went flying in all directions. Thanks to his previous enchantment, none of it hit Arthur or the boat.

That reminded Merlin that he needed to end this quickly. He didn't know how long Arthur had until he completely succumbed to his wound, but he was sure it was minutes.

Rushing to the lake's edge as Morgana resurfaced, he tried to get his magic to respond the way he wanted it to.

_Oh, come on. You've done this once before, Merlin,_ he told himself. _You did it without words before. You can do it again._

Morgana tried to attack him again, " _Ástryce!_ "

Merlin instinctively blocked it, still gathering his magic for his plan.

Morgana clambered up to shore and screeched, " _Swilte, Merlin!"_

Merlin blocked it again, and he was now ready. He shot a blast of light towards Morgana. She let out an unearthly wail for a second, trying to defend herself.

In a flash, it was over, and Morgana's body dropped to the ground.

Merlin felt as Morgana's life ended and Arthur's was renewed. It didn't happen the way he'd thought it originally would happen, but he'd still saved Arthur.

Smiling weakly, Merlin fell to his knees. All the stress on his body from the previous days caught up to him as he lost the adrenaline and energy that had kept him going.

After all, he'd lost his magic, stressed out about it, got knocked unconscious in a cave-in, slept in a cave, and then struck lightning at an army in his aged disguise, which always exhausted him.

Then he'd carried Arthur in all his armor from the battlefield into the forest, still in his energy draining disguise. He'd stayed awake, then stressed out about revealing his magic and Arthur's injury, then sobbed his heart out.

He'd stayed awake and alert for several days, not eating or drinking much, since he was so concentrated on taking care of Arthur.

Then just recently he'd fought Morgana magically, more than he'd ever done before.

To top it off, he'd just performed the extremely difficult power of life and death.

He dropped down roughly to the ground, his vision was clouding, and it sounded like he was underwater.

The last thing he was aware of before he fell into the welcoming darkness was a worried, muffled shout of, "MERLIN!!!"

*****

**Author's Note**

The chapters from here on out will be longer than those first few chapters, because there is no more of the show to build off of.

The battle between Merlin and Morgana was the hardest part, since I had to make up spells for the first time. I kind of looked up Old English words and butchered them together. It was fun, but I'm sure I did terrible. Hopefully I'll get better at it.

Here are the spells I came up with and their translations (the translations are what I wanted to say); the rest can be found on the Merlin Wiki online since I took a couple directly from it.

_Wæter, gealgian se cynewyrðe Arthur._ (Translation: Waters, protect the noble Arthur!)

_Sceaduwe, hiersumap me! Bebiede se deorcnysse forþrysman hine!_ (Translation: Shadows, obey me! I command you, darkness, suffocate him!)

_Leoht, forsceadan seo sceaduwe._ (Translation: Light, scatter the darkness.)

_Eorþe, hiersumap me! Ácwele hine!_ (Translation: Earth, obey me! Kill him!)

Morgana's spells are so much more violent than Merlin's… yeesh. I decided to take the short route with the battle, but I still tried to make it exciting, rather than them just throwing each other around and then Merlin using the power of life and death.

While I did like that Merlin killed Morgana with Excalibur in the show (since she kept saying how no mortal blade could kill her), I did feel it was a bit anticlimactic. Like, come on, we deserved another epic battle besides just Merlin vs Nimueh.

Besides, since Arthur was clearly dying, why couldn't Merlin use the power of life and death in the show? If it was because he wasn't close enough to an ancient source of magic… that's why I had it occur at the Lake of Avalon. Plus, she knows where they'll end up, she doesn't have to necessarily try to track them before they get there.


	10. Some Needed Explanations and Apologies

"MERLIN!!!" Arthur cried out as he watched the warlock collapse.

He wasn't entirely sure what had happened. One moment he's dying and watching an epic magical duel, then next Morgana must be dead, Arthur is completely healed, and Merlin faints. Well, Arthur was hoping he'd just fainted.

Arthur clambered out of the boat, landing ungracefully into the water. Pulling himself up, out of the water, he ran and knelt beside Merlin. Frantically, he grasped the man's wrist and checked for his pulse. It was steady.

Sighing with relief, Arthur leaned back and positioned himself more comfortably on the ground. Then, holding Merlin's shoulders, he tried to shake him awake.

"Merlin," he tried. "Merlin! Wake up!"

Merlin remained unresponsive.

"I'll give you another day off if you wake up right now!" Arthur was getting desperate.

Why wouldn't Merlin wake up?

"Let him sleep," a woman's voice cut in gently. "He is simply exhausted. He will be fine after some rest."

Arthur whipped around, pulling his arms protectively around Merlin as he did so.

She hadn't sounded menacing, but you could never be too careful.

"What do you mean he's exhausted?" he asked as he spun around.

"I'm sure you can think of that answer yourself," she responded kindly.

The lady had a human form, yet there was an unnatural glow surrounding her.

She had dark hair, brown eyes, and an elegant dress on. She was standing on the very edge of the lake, the waves rippling around her ankles. Arthur couldn't help but feel that he might've seen her somewhere before.

Arthur looked back down at the unconscious body in his arms. Merlin had obtained quite a few cuts and bruises from the battle, and his left arm, which had been burned, looked painful.

"He is also injured," Arthur pointed out. "Those need to be treated."

"Bring him to me," she offered. "I can heal him of his injuries."

Arthur considered it, but was still a little wary.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked. "I have this feeling as if I've seen you before."

"We have met once before, King Arthur, though I hardly think it was any proper meeting," the woman explained. "Some people call me the Lady of the Lake, but my real name is Freya. At least, that was my name when I was alive."

"You're a ghost?" Arthur asked, confused.

"I am a spirit, yes," she agreed. "We met when I was alive… Do you remember the Bastet?"

"The Bastet… which one was that… oh! Was that the cat-like creature with wings?" Arthur remembered.

Freya nodded slowly.

"And didn't it change from a girl into that form? So where were you?" Arthur asked aloud, still trying to solve the mystery. The moment the realization came to him, he declared flatly, "You were the girl, weren't you. I killed you."

Freya nodded. "I was cursed then. I once was a normal Druid girl. One day, I accidentally killed a man in self-defense. His mother was a sorceress, a powerful one, and she cursed me to kill forever more. Each night, at the stroke of midnight, I was cursed to change into a Bastet for one hour, and had an uncontrollable desire to kill. I thought myself a monster… It was a lonely life…" she explained sorrowfully.

"I'm sorry…" Arthur tried to apologize, suddenly feeling guilty.

Freya shook her head, "It was not your fault. If you hadn't struck me, I would still be cursed. Though I am only a spirit here, it is much better than the life I lived before."

"Wait… you must've died in Camelot. How did you become a spirit here?" Arthur asked, confused.

Freya smiled and gestured towards Merlin.

"Merlin saved me from my cage and helped me hide for a few days. I didn't have the heart to tell him I was cursed… he was so sweet. I guess we fell in love, over those few days. He wanted to get me out of Camelot, then he decided that he would go with. I didn't want him to leave the life he had in Camelot, so I told him we needed supplies and then I attempted to leave by myself. He found me as the Bastet and figured it out, but he still did not hate me. When he was with me, it was the only time I was able to stop harming anyone as the Bastet. He carried me all the way here, to this lake. Because of his magic, unintentionally, he tied my spirit to the lake, where I can occasionally help people," Freya explained.

Arthur was trying to process it all, when it occurred to him, "Merlin was planning on leaving Camelot? You… two… loved each other that much?"

"Then, we did. And we still each hold a dear place in each other's hearts. But it wasn't meant to be. I do not feel the same as I felt then, and I'm sure he does not either. His heart belongs to another woman now, though he doesn't realize it. But back to the matter at hand. Will you allow me to heal him?"

Arthur looked back at Merlin, sleeping peacefully. He rose up, still holding Merlin in his arms, and carried him to Freya.

She clasped Merlin's burned arm in her hands, and softly whispered something that sounded to Arthur like, "pier hall lay bear net, hall lay, tris an linen rag," but Arthur was, once again, fairly sure that it wasn't that. Suddenly, it occurred to him that if people knew what the words meant, they would kind of know what to expect from the spells and might be able to defend themselves better if need be.

With the first part of the spell, the burn mostly vanished, just leaving tiny traces of a scar behind. After the second part, the visible cuts and scrapes on Merlin disappeared. The third part of the incantation repaired Merlin's sleeve, making his jacket and tunic whole again.

Merlin made a contented sound and relaxed more, but still did not wake up.

"Thank you," Arthur said to the lady, marveling at the use of magic.

"You should put him back on the ground and let him sleep," she suggested. "He won't be waking up for a little while."

Arthur nodded, then, finding the most comfortable spot on the ground, gently laid Merlin down. After getting the servant settled down, Arthur turned back to the spirit, curious.

"You said his heart belongs to another woman now but he doesn't realize it. Who is it?" Arthur inquired.

Freya laughed, "I cannot tell you that, Arthur Pendragon."

"Why not?" Arthur immediately asked.

"You will have to wait and see. It will be revealed soon enough. We can answer a few questions about Merlin's destiny, however," she responded cryptically with a grin.

Did everyone but Arthur immensely enjoy being cryptic? Maybe he would have to try it sometime.

"Wait, who's we? You said we," he pointed out.

"Me and the other guardian of the lake. He was another person that Merlin gave a funeral at this lake and thus unintentionally tied to this lake," she explained, and gestured with her hand. Another figure came from the water, one much more familiar.

Not a good familiar, exactly, though not bad either. Still, Arthur's instincts kicked in and he backed up, intending to shield Merlin from the intruder.

"Lancelot?" Arthur hissed. "What are you doing here?"

Lancelot looked remorseful, and he got down on one knee.

"My lord," he stated, "When we saw each other last, I was not myself. I truly perished when I walked through the Veil. But Morgana raised me from the dead by making me a Shade, controlling me, and sent me back to Camelot. She used me to give an enchanted bracelet to an unsuspecting Guinevere, enchanting her to do what she did. Merlin found out that I was a Shade, but he never figured out that Guinevere was enchanted."

Arthur stared at him, jaw hanging, as he took in this news. Of course Morgana had been behind that. Of course she was. Why hadn't it occurred to him that maybe Guinevere was enchanted?

"I also knew of Merlin's magic," Lancelot continued, further shocking Arthur. "He enchanted my lance against the Griffin so that I could kill it. Apparently he thought that blue flames would easy to miss."

This was too much for Arthur to process.

"What?" he asked, uncomprehending.

Freya stepped closer to Lancelot, who got off of his knee. They lovingly held their hands as they turned back to Arthur.

Arthur was confused, even more so than when Merlin had revealed his magic. He'd rather be thinking about Merlin than this spirit couple or whatever they were.

Arthur shook his head, hoping it would simultaneously shake the swirling thoughts out of his head.

"You said something about Merlin's destiny?" Arthur reminded Freya.

"Yes," Freya began, "As you already know, Merlin is destined to be the greatest sorcerer to ever walk the earth. But he is not at that place just yet. He was born able to move objects with his mind. His potential is greater than any other, and he is very skilled already, but magic is like any other skill in some ways. Merlin is able to use more power at a given time than any other and learns spells very quickly. He is also even able to make up spells if he believes in himself. If he had been practicing like Morgana he would've defeated her in less than a second."

"However, Merlin doesn't truly believe in his destiny. He believes in yours, definitely, but he is too modest when it comes to his. You must help him. He is supposed to be at your side, not behind you," Lancelot finished for her.

Arthur nodded, relieved. This was the simplest thing he'd heard so far from their visit. He already knew that Merlin was too modest for his own good and that his place was beside Arthur.

The two spirits smiled, then turned to leave, still holding hands.

"Wait! I have one more question," Arthur called out to them.

They patiently turned around and looked at the king expectantly.

"If Merlin is so powerful, how come he's so clumsy?" Arthur asked. "I'm sure it wasn't all an act."

Freya and Lancelot glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

Arthur almost felt like laughing, but didn't because he opted for looking at them with furrowed eyebrows.

Thankfully, they quieted down upon noticing that Arthur wasn't laughing with them.

"He's clumsy _because_ of the immense amount of magic. When he was born, he had magic and didn't feel the need to develop his motor skills as much since he could just use magic to get anything he wanted. Surely you have noticed he has gotten less clumsy over the years," Freya explained, still trying not to laugh.

"You'll learn, Arthur, that most of what you know in your heart about Merlin is true," Lancelot added.

With that, the two spirits of the lake, left, laughing.

Arthur watched them go, then turned back to Merlin, who was still sleeping deeply.

"Why does everything have to be complicated with you?" he accused his friend.

*****

Gaius was walking across the courtyard when he noticed Percival entering with Gwaine on his shoulder.

"Gaius!" Percival yelled, sprinting across the stretch between them. "You've got to help Gwaine; we were attacked by Morgana."

Gaius nodded, gesturing for Percival to carry Gwaine to his chambers.

Just then, they both observed Eira running up to them with a scream of, "Gwaine!"

_Oh, boy_ , Gaius thought, _Now I have to deal with a girl in love with him wanting to be at his side._

They reached the physician's chambers, and after Percival laid Gwaine down on the patient's cot, he dismissed himself to tell the queen the news.

Gaius quickly inspected Gwaine and deduced that Morgana had used a Nathair on him. So that meant that she'd tortured him.

Morgana really needed to come up with some original ideas.

Gwaine's injury was worse than Elyan's had been, partially because Morgana had grown stronger and more violent, and partially because Gwaine had held out longer than Elyan had.

He wasn't called Strength for nothing, after all.

Well, Gaius had treated Elyan in a prison cell with absolutely no supplies. He could treat Gwaine properly in his chambers with Daegal to help out.

*****

It was getting harder and harder for Guinevere to remain calm. Arthur and Merlin were still not back, and now Morgana knew where they were heading. No doubt she should've reached them by now. It was down to if Merlin could defeat her and save Arthur at the same time, or if Morgana had actually been smart and taken a few extra sorcerers with her.

Gwaine was injured, with that girl hovering by his side. Where had she come from? Gaius had proclaimed that with a few days' rest Gwaine should be fine, but Guinevere couldn't get the image of Percival carrying the knight into Camelot.

Leon had been taking care of patrols to look for Arthur and Merlin. She was expecting him to be back at any moment, though.

The timing was perfect, though nothing else of the situation was. Leon knocked on the door and entered, his face full of sadness.

"What's the news?" Guinevere asked quickly, waiting for the answer she'd been dreading.

"We couldn't find them, or Morgana. The lake seemed covered with mist. We couldn't see. We did, however, find their horses, with quite a few supplies," Leon reported.

That was bad news. It wasn't the worst news, but still it was bad.

Guinevere ran her hand over her face, trying to keep her composure. "Send another patrol out at first light tomorrow," she ordered.

Leon nodded and left the room.

_Oh, Arthur,_ Guinevere thought, _where are you?_

*****

Gaius noticed as Gwaine woke up, finally. Well, more like he heard Eira's shriek of, "Gwaine?" when Gwaine began to stir.

"Huh?" Gwaine grunted, dazed. He looked around the room, and it apparently hit him what had happened.

"Eira?" he asked gently. "It's good to see you… but can you please step out of the room for a moment? I need to talk to Gaius."

Eira clutched his hand, and after briefly kissing it, nodded. She stood up and exited the chambers, waiting in the corridors.

Gaius motioned for Daegal to leave as well, feeling that Gwaine wanted to talk to him in private. Gaius came closer to Gwaine, randomly holding a potion.

"How do you feel?" Gaius asked.

"Like hell, but I'll live. That's not what I want to discuss with you, though. I'm sorry I couldn't hold Morgana off enough… I told her where Arthur and Merlin are heading," Gwaine admitted. "Granted, Merlin can blast an army with lightning so I'm sure he's more than a match for her on even ground but…"

Gaius about dropped his potion, but quickly recovered.

"You know about him, too?" Gaius groaned. He wondered what Merlin's reaction would be at finding out that practically everyone was figuring out his secret.

"Don't worry," Gwaine grinned, "I've known since I met him. I just wanted to ask… Merlin can beat Morgana, right? And he'll be able to save Arthur?"

"Yes," Gaius said after a moment. "I believe so. Not that I don't worry for him, regardless… You'll understand when you have children, Gwaine."

"Perhaps," Gwaine replied seriously. "If Merlin really can beat Morgana, then perhaps I can make it back up to them for failing them this time and being weak."

"Gwaine," Gaius reprimanded, "You were not weak. You didn't fail. Nobody could have withstood that for as long as you did. Now, get some sleep. I'm sure Eira will sit by the bed."

Gwaine hummed, and fell back into the pillow with a slight smile on his face.

*****

When Merlin woke up, it felt like his mind was foggy. He couldn't remember where he was or what he had been doing.

He assessed his situation. He was lying on something hard, so the ground. His body was a little sore, but otherwise alright. He was a little tired, but he distinctly remembered that he had been exhausted before. He was pretty hungry. He could hear waves crashing, but not a crackling campfire. He heard snoring, very loud snoring, as if it was right next to him. The person was also mumbling his name.

The only person that snored who should be near him was Arthur.

_Arthur!_

Merlin jumped up as the memories of the past few days rushed to him. Arthur stirred beside him, waking up as well.

"Mmm?" Arthur hummed, blinking awake.  


Merlin quickly scanned his friend. He appeared completely fine.

Merlin breathed, relieved, "What happened?"

"You fainted… like a girl," Arthur explained with a glint of humor in his eyes.

"Oh really?" Merlin challenged good-naturedly. "Because I seem to remember that I saved your ungrateful butt again."

"Well, obviously your memory is flawed," Arthur countered. "Of course, I'm not sure your memory has ever been intact."

Merlin huffed a laugh, then grew serious.

"The last thing I remember is trading Morgana's life for yours…" Merlin looked down at his lap, slightly ashamed.

Arthur grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it.

"You did the right thing, Merlin. Morgana was too far gone," Arthur tried to assure him.

"I should've helped her," Merlin shook his head, disagreeing. "I was a horrible friend."

"Perhaps, but Morgana made her own choice. If there's anyone to really blame, it's her, Morgause, and my father. Perhaps you could've slowed down her turning, but who knows what would've happened? If she knew about your magic, what if she had tried to turn you against Camelot? What if she had succeeded?" Arthur pointed out.

"Still doesn't make it easy," Merlin replied.

"No," Arthur agreed, sighing, "It doesn't."

"I haven't been a very good friend to you, either," Merlin sighed. "I lied to you. I've killed your sister, uncle, I couldn't heal your father because of a stupid mistake; so many people I failed to protect."

"Merlin, stop that," Arthur demanded, pulling Merlin to face him. "Everyone makes mistakes; you've tried your best. As for the lying… part of it is my fault for being so painfully oblivious. You've literally implied that you have magic, or that you were more than you seemed, and I completely ignored it. Remember that time you declared in court that you were a sorcerer to my father and I said that there was no way you could be?"

Merlin gave a watery laugh at that memory, "It did save my life… I was being kind of stupid…"

"I see now that it's a good thing that I didn't know about your magic until now. Perhaps things will be strange for a little while, but I think that it will make us better in the end," Arthur admitted, smiling encouragingly. "After all, not everybody gets to have the most powerful sorcerer as their best friend."

Merlin grinned back at him, "Well, just don't get a bigger head than you already have."

Arthur punched Merlin's arm playfully, to which Merlin rolled his eyes.

They looked back at the lake for a few moments, just soaking in the view.

"We should start heading back to Camelot… Guinevere is probably worried sick. We need to give Morgana a funeral as well, for who she once was," Arthur declared, standing up and holding out his hand for Merlin to take.

Merlin nodded, pulling himself off the ground with Arthur's help.

They quietly got back in the boat, taking Morgana's body with them. As soon as they reached the shore closest to Camelot, they disembarked and set off to gather plants for a funeral.

They didn't say a word as they laid Morgana's body to rest and sent her floating on the lake. Merlin lit the boat with his magic. They shed a couple tears for the Lady Morgana who once was, and stood there solemnly.

Neither thought of the two guardians of the lake, so lost in their own tumbling thoughts as they were. Wordlessly, they left the lake and walked back where they had left their horses.

Morgana must have scared their horses, with most of their supplies, and then teleported to the island.

Sighing, they headed back to Camelot on foot. It would take a few hours.

*****

**Author's Note**

Lancelot and Freya... I ship it. Though that would mean that Lancelot kind of sort of stole both Arthur and Merlin's girls... We're not going to think too much about that. After all, Freya's dead, Lancelot's dead, and Merlin's alive, so Merlin and Freya doesn't really work out long-term.

Now, I do like Freylin as much as anybody, but I feel like Merlin did get over her in the show. First off, they knew each other for less than a week. I'm not implying that you can't grow attached that quickly, I'm just saying that the attachment can't grow very deeply. He seemed more smitten with her than she did with him, though that could be attributed to the fact that she's cursed. They clearly did love each other truly, but we don't know how well they would be compatible long term because we never see them long term.

Now, I don't know about you, but I figured that despite all the "I don't want you to change", "thank you", etc., that Arthur and Merlin would still have a lot to process, so sorry if it seems to be moving slow. Also, I could see Arthur being super interested in learning about magic after he's come to accept it, but also not wanting Merlin to think that he's that interested.

Here are the spells that Freya actually says from this chapter - _þurhhæle bærnett. Ge hailige. Gestrician línenhrægl_ (Translation: Heal thoroughly the burn. Heal together. Repair cloth.) For now, Arthur doesn't recognize what words of the Old Religion mean, so when we're in his POV I won't actually be putting the words in, just what they sound like and what they do. However… that doesn't mean Arthur will never learn the language of the Old Religion.

In other news, I wrote and posted a one-shot about a funny magic reveal.

Me: Is working on a golden age AU and is putting a lot of effort in it. It gets a decent amount of hits each day for the three weeks it's been up.

Also me: randomly one night decides to write a magic reveal one-shot in 15 minutes and doesn't expect it to get much. The next morning, it's already reached a tenth of the hits of the previous, longer work and two-thirds of the kudos. Before it's been a day that the work has been uploaded it's already got over 100 hits and nearly as many kudos as the other. Now it's working its way to 200 hits and has as many kudos as this one.

I am NOT complaining about this. I didn't write this for it to get popular; I wrote it as a way for me to deal with the ending. I'm amazed at how many of you readers there are! :)

I guess people are looking for funny magic reveals more than golden age? Oh, well, too bad ;) . I'm pretty devoted to this story. Though I do want to write a slightly crack fix-it for the Lancelot du Lac episode sometime…


	11. Brothers' Return

Arthur and Merlin trudged through the forest in silence for about an hour.

Arthur was the first to break the silence with, "So..."

"So... What?" Merlin asked, glancing towards him as they kept walking.

"Don't you want to tell me more about your magic?" Arthur offered.

"There's too much to tell you just on our way home, Arthur. There's also a lot that I might be forgetting right now," Merlin laughed.

"Well, at the very least we can start," Arthur pointed out.

"True," Merlin agreed, "How about you just ask me something and I'll answer?"

"Sounds good to me," Arthur replied, now trying to think of something to ask. Instantly, he thought of a question.

"Why did it heal me when you defeated Morgana?" he asked.

Merlin sighed, "That was because it was the power of life and death. You were dying. If you take a life, you can then save... Or create... A life."

"Create a life?" Arthur asked sharply.

Merlin winced at the sharp tone, and continued, "When Morgause 'showed' you your mother's 'spirit', she didn't completely lie. She wrapped up a lie in a lot of truth. I still don't know if it really was your mother you saw, but if it was then Morgause had found a way to manipulate her words in order to manipulate you. When we returned to Camelot, Gaius quickly told me what really happened back then…" Merlin hesitated, biting his lip.

Arthur motioned with his hand for Merlin to continue.

"It was true that your mother could not conceive, so your father sent Gaius to ask the High Priestess of the Old Religion Nimueh for a solution. Her solution was to use the power of life and death, only this time to create a life, that life being you. She told your father that the Old Religion would choose someone to restore the balance. I know it is possible for a sorcerer performing the power of life and death to choose a specific person, but it is possible to just leave it up to the Old Religion as well. I don't know which way Nimueh went with, but either way, your father did not know that your mother's life was the chosen life to be taken. Upon your birth, your mother died suddenly, and your father blamed Nimueh and the Old Religion for choosing her. So began the Great Purge…"

"Why did you stop me from killing my father that day?" Arthur asked poignantly. "Nobody would have blamed you if you hadn't. Didn't you hate my father?"

"I didn't… _hate_ him. I feared him, certainly. But I never would have wished death on him. He was your father, after all, and I saw how he truly did love you and Morgana, even if he wasn't the greatest at expressing it. I suppose, in a way, I pitied him. Besides, if it wasn't for the Great Purge, I never would have been born," Merlin explained.

"What do you mean you wouldn't have been born? You told me you didn't know anything about your father," Arthur said.

"And I didn't… then. I didn't even knew if he was alive, what his name was, even if he was a sorcerer like I was. My mother certainly didn't have an ounce of magic in her. It was when the Great Dragon was attacking Camelot that Gaius finally told me." Merlin took a deep breath, "My father was the dragonlord. Balinor."

Arthur remained silent in shock for a minute. Images flashed in his head of how the two had instantly bonded, how Balinor had finally agreed to go with them to Camelot and Arthur had felt that it was because of Merlin, Balinor saving Merlin and Merlin in turn crying over the man.

"I'm sorry," he managed to choke out.

Merlin shook his head, getting rid of the tears forming in his eyes, "You have nothing to be sorry for, Arthur."

"No, I do," Arthur disagreed. "It was your father… and I didn't give you time to grieve. Sure, I didn't know, but still. I told you that no man was worth your tears, yet I was devastated when my father died."

They walked on, not saying a word until Arthur's curiosity got the best of him again.

"Did the dragonlord abilities pass onto you then? Is that how you were able to command Morgana's dragon?"

"It isn't _Morgana's_ dragon," Merlin uncharacteristically snapped, surprising Arthur. Then he seemed to deflate as Arthur held up his hands in mock surrender. "Sorry, sorry, I'm just a little on edge. Something feels wrong. But, yes, that is how I was able to control her. I am the very last Dragonlord."

"What kind of feels wrong?" Arthur whispered, now noticing that Merlin was glancing around.

Merlin's eyes flashed gold and he seemed to be staring ahead. Then his eyes changed back to blue and he ducked his head.

"Six Saxons coming along," Merlin whispered. "What should we do?"

Arthur stared ahead, then smirked a little mischievously, "Perhaps we should have them send a message that their queen is dead?"

"You want me to take care of them?" Merlin asked, grinning.

"Just wait a little bit at first. I want them to know what hit them," Arthur responded. "And remember to leave at least one alive."

They hid in some bushes, waiting for the Saxons to come along.

As they came into view, Merlin nudged Arthur, "That one might be a sorcerer. He isn't carrying a weapon. But if he does have magic, he isn't powerful at all. I'll knock him unconscious."

Arthur nodded in understanding.

Soon enough, the Saxons were literally feet away from them and Arthur and Merlin purposely gave away their position.

The leader of the Saxon patrol pointed his sword in their direction and snarled, "Declare yourself!"

Quickly, they broke their cover and stood up. Arthur held his sword casually.

"I suggest you let us pass," Arthur told the Saxons smugly.

The Saxons just laughed at them and surrounded them. The one not carrying a weapon raised his hand and started to incant, confirmed a sorcerer.

Not that he got the chance to finish, since all six of the Saxons went flying backwards, giving yelps of surprise. Half of them fell unconscious with that initial thrust, including the sorcerer.

Merlin's arms was outstretched; his eyes were fading from gold.

"Sorcerer!" one of the remaining Saxons cried out, pointing towards Merlin.

Arthur and Merlin glanced at each other and simultaneously rolled their eyes at the obvious statement.

Merlin held out his hand and said something in the language of the Old Religion that sounded to Arthur like, "Bur bay nay, ga hay tan."

The trees seemed to grow longer branches and roots which held the Saxons securely. If other Saxons were to come across, they would be freed, but it wasn't Arthur's intention to kill them. Not really.

Arthur stepped up to the leader, looking down at him.

"Tell your friends; the Lady Morgana is dead. This war is over."

*****

After the encounter with the Saxons, they continued on their way. It seemed to Merlin as if Arthur was extremely curious about everything. They'd talked about Aithusa, Kilgharrah (and Arthur had surprisingly taken the whole fact that Merlin had spared the dragon after being the one to release it well, all things considering), Morgana, Mordred, Dragoon the Great, even the Dolma (which Merlin refused to admit that he was, instead grumbled something about the things he did for this kingdom while Arthur threw his head back laughing). Arthur told him about Freya and Lancelot, which made Merlin… well he really didn't know what it made him feel. Probably lonely. He'd told Arthur all of the people that was aware that knew of his magic besides Arthur. Lastly, they'd talked about why Merlin had to leave before Camlann. In intervals, Arthur also complained about how hungry he was.

They'd decided that the rest of the bulk of the story should be saved for when they were back home, since Merlin would have to relay his adventures to his other friends as well sometime. Arthur had demanded that Merlin reveal his magic to Guinevere as soon as possible.

So, now they were talking about the principles of magic. Well, kind of like arguing instead of talking, even though Merlin was really the expert.

"So, wait, if you teleported to Camlann, why didn't you just teleport me to the lake?" Arthur asked.

"It's not that simple," Merlin explained with a sigh of exasperation. "Teleportation is a tricky thing. First off, Avalon is very magical, so things don't work the same there. Secondly, teleporting yourself when you're a sorcerer is one thing, but teleporting with another person who doesn't have magic is another thing. Additionally, teleportation tends to heavily drain one's energy and is usually just used in desperate cases or to show off. You were wounded pretty badly, so if I teleported you, you would've most likely died. Besides, would you have wanted to be teleported? _Do_ you want to be teleported?"

"Probably not," Arthur agreed reluctantly. "So how did Morgana know you were at the crystal cave? She wasn't able to spy on us all the time, was she?"

"No, or else she would've figured out I was Emrys long before that. No, she knew I was at the crystal cave because I had lost my magic and thus wasn't holding onto an enchantment I've had going on. It blocks people from scrying the citadel and us unless they're very skilled at it. Morgana wasn't so much, so she never was able to scry on us until she removed my magic. Hence why she tried to have so many spies in the castle."

"Ah," was the response Arthur gave.

Suddenly, it seemed the forest was growing less thick. They both recognized that they were getting close to home.

It was late afternoon, Camelot came into full view. They stood still for a moment, marveling at the beauty of the city from this view.

"We're almost home," Arthur breathed.

"Yeah... To a nice meal, bed, and a bath," Merlin agreed.

Arthur nodded, and further commented, "We'll have to dedicate a big funeral for all those who perished in the Battle... And throw a feast to celebrate the end of the war."

"Don't remind me," Merlin grumbled, thinking of how much work he'd have to do.

Arthur chuckled, then offered, "I'll allow you to use magic to do as many of the chores as you want, so long as you're careful."

Merlin turned his head away from observing the golden sunset and swiveled to stare at Arthur.

"Really?" he asked, not daring to believe he'd heard correctly.

"Yes, really. Do I need to repeat myself?" Arthur mocked lightly.

Merlin eyed Arthur suspiciously and stated, "Why do I have this feeling that you're just letting me do my chores with magic because there's something else you want me to do that I can't use magic on?"

"It's just another one of your _funny_ feelings, Merlin. It doesn't mean anything," Arthur joked, shoving past him.

As they entered the courtyard swiftly, Merlin noticed Arthur seemed to be hurrying towards the citadel, as his strides were longer and more frequent. Merlin didn't particularly feel like trying to keep up with him, so he fell behind

In perfect timing, Guinevere came rushing out of the castle and down the steps with a desperate shout of, "ARTHUR!"

Briskly, Arthur broke out into a run, meeting her at the bottom of the steps. Fiercely, they threw their arms around each other, spinning around, and Arthur lifted her off of the ground. Laughing and crying at the same time, they kissed as if they would never be able to again, completely ignoring the people around them.

Smiling, Merlin came closer, wanting to give them privacy but also finding himself drawn to it. The scene reminded him, as it had many times in the past, of why he worked so hard at his destiny. But the couple also sometimes sadly reminded him that he had nobody like the way that they had each other.

Eventually, Arthur and Guinevere turned towards Merlin, their arms still around each other's waists but not passionately embracing as before.

"Merlin," Guinevere greeted him, smiling knowingly. "Thank you… for everything you've done."

Arthur stifled a laugh as Merlin's eyes widened.

Merlin cleared his throat and responded, smiling as well, "It was my pleasure."

Just then, Leon and Percival came jogging up to them, disrupting the moment.

"Sire! You're alright!" they called out.

"Yes," Arthur grinned, then he glanced around, worried. "Where's Gwaine?"

Leon's, Percival's, and Guinevere's faces fell slightly.

"Sire," Percival was the one to answer him. "Morgana captured him and I, then she tortured him with dark magic into telling her where you were heading. He's recovering in Gaius's chambers."

"Well, Morgana did catch up with us, but we defeated her. Merlin killed her," Arthur explained.

At this, the other three stared, impressed and shocked, at the servant, who was now feeling extremely uncomfortable, even knowing that Guinevere knew about his magic apparently.

Guinevere recovered from the news the fastest despite having once been the closest to the late lady, and suggested, "Perhaps we should visit Gwaine?"

This thankfully drew the attention away from Merlin.

"That sounds like a good idea," Leon agreed.

"Yeah," Percival nodded.

The five of them headed towards the physician's chambers. Deciding to leave Arthur and Merlin near the back of their line, they entered the doorway after knocking.

Leon, Percival, and Guinevere casually greeted the physician as they entered, who just nodded to acknowledge their presence, focused on making a potion.

He didn't look up as Arthur and Merlin entered quietly, until Arthur cleared his throat and smiled, "Hello, Gaius."

Gaius looked up sharply at that, a smile breaking across his old face at seeing the two of them.

"I knew you'd be alright," he said, looking like he'd love to give them hugs but not able to due to him currently making a potion.

Just then Gwaine noticed their presence and laughed gleefully, "Merlin! Arthur!"

Merlin and Arthur walked over to the patient's cot where Gwaine still lay. Eira, who was sitting beside Gwaine, gave Merlin a smile, and looked nervously at the King.

Arthur stared, confused, at her.

"Who are you?" he asked, trying to sound nice.

"Eira," everybody else in the room answered immediately in response.

"Oh," Arthur swallowed awkwardly. "Nice to meet you… Eira."

Merlin fought the urge to laugh. Apparently everyone had learned about the girl _except_ Arthur. Typical.

They visited Gwaine for a while, when Gaius declared that the knight needed to rest. Leon and Percival left at that, leaving Arthur, Guinevere, and Merlin.

Gaius briefly checked over Arthur and Merlin, then cleared them as perfectly healthy, just needing some rest.

*****

After visiting Gwaine and Gaius, Guinevere and Arthur retired to their own chambers. Arthur had given Merlin the rest of the night off and another servant retrieved their supper and drew up a bath for the King.

After that, they finally lay in bed together for the first time that week, thinking over the events of the past week. Since they were both thoroughly tired, however, they quickly fell asleep without discussing much.

Guinevere woke up early the next morning, the sun was barely peeking over the horizon, and Arthur was still snoring away. Nestling closer into his embrace, she cherished the feel of his arms around her. It had been incredibly lonely sleeping in the bed without him, not knowing whether he would return safely.

After a few minutes, Arthur woke up as well, yawning.

As his brain seemingly caught up with him, he turned to Gwen and said, "Please tell me this whole past week has been some kind of crazy dream."

She giggled, "I'm afraid not."

Arthur groaned, "So I really do have a magical idiot of a manservant that I now need to change the law for?"

Gwen laughed in response.

"Perhaps we should just stay in bed," Arthur continued. "Forever."

"That would be nice," Gwen agreed, "But I don't think we can."

"Hmph," Arthur huffed good-naturedly.

"We didn't get much time to talk about it all last night," Guinevere brought up.

"No," Arthur agreed seriously, "No, we didn't. What would you like to hear?"

"All of it, from the beginning," she responded.

"The beginning… well…" he continued to tell the story of fighting at Camlann, seeing the sorcerer, then dueling Mordred. Then he told her of waking up to find Merlin, Merlin revealing himself as the sorcerer--he discreetly left out the part where Merlin practically had to tell him three times and then _use_ magic in order for Arthur to believe him, which Guinevere was only informed of this part of the event later by Merlin--and all that went with that. Then Gaius coming and learning that Merlin was supposed to be the greatest sorcerer ever to walk the earth. Then Merlin and he parted ways with Gaius, heading towards Lake Avalon, and how Arthur realized that Merlin was still Merlin, as he always had been. Then they'd gotten to the isle and Morgana was waiting for them, but Merlin defeated her. Arthur told her how Merlin used the power of life and death to transfer Morgana's life force to Arthur's, and how that was actually how Arthur was born, and why Uther started the war on magic anyway. Then he told her of Morgana's funeral, the return home, and that Merlin had answered quite a few of his questions. He decided that Merlin would have to tell her most of them, and that there were many more questions that Arthur needed to ask. However, he did tell her about he actually was born of magic and why Uther started his war on magic. Then Arthur fell silent.

"There's something else, isn't there?" she asked, glancing at his thoughtful face.

"Yes," he stated, "But I'm not entirely sure how to say them."

"It's alright, you can tell me," she reassured him, rubbing his chest.

"At the lake," he started, "while Merlin was sleeping, I was approached by this woman, she called herself the Lady of the Lake, and said that her real name was Freya. Supposedly, she was a spirit that was tied to the lake because Merlin had given her a funeral there and unintentionally made her a guardian there with his magic. Apparently they had been in love briefly while she had been alive… but they weren't anymore. She said that Merlin loved another woman now, though he doesn't realize it just yet."

"You're wondering who it could be?" she guessed.

"Yes. I hope that whoever she is, that she deserves him. He deserves happiness…" Arthur declared, rolling onto his side to face her, "He's always been there for me, when no one else was. Even when I tried to push everyone away, he stubbornly remained. He may be content to be alone, but he needs someone like how I have you."

"I'm sure whoever the lucky woman is to end up with him will come along soon enough," she assured him.

"That wasn't the only thing. That was the easy bit… the next thing, I'm really not sure how to tell you, but I know I need to," he stated. "The lady wasn't the only guardian of the lake because Merlin had given them a funeral there. The other spirit came up to me, and it was… Lancelot."

Gwen gasped in surprise.

"Apparently, the last time we saw him he'd been raised from the dead by Morgana, and under her control, to give you an _enchanted_ bracelet and ruin our relationship…" Arthur dropped the news.

"You mean that…?" Guinevere started, not entirely sure where she was going with the sentence.

"Yes, you both were completely innocent. It was Morgana's plan," Arthur finished for her. "I'm so sorry it didn't even occur to me."

"It's not your fault, Arthur," she responded quickly, rubbing his chest with her hand comfortingly. "I didn't think about it either. And besides, we're past that, aren't we?"

"Yes," Arthur agreed. "Yes, we are. She failed."

*****

That day had been extremely busy. There had been a long council meeting, where many of Arthur's advisors asked about his disappearance and if he knew who the sorcerer was. Resisting the urge to glance at Merlin, Arthur had replied that, yes, he knew the identity of the sorcerer, but the sorcerer had asked to remain unknown for now. After the council meeting, there was a billion things for Arthur to do. Then they had held a funeral ceremony for those that lost their lives at Camlann, and a short celebration for the end of the war.

Arthur realized as he snuggled in bed with his wife once again that he'd barely had time to talk to Merlin the whole day.

_Oh, well_ , he thought as drifted off to sleep, _I'll have to talk with him tomorrow_.

*****

**Author's Note**

So, Arthur and Merlin are back in Camelot, ready to kick butt... I mean... Fulfill destiny.

Merlin's spell - _Berbéne, gehæftan_. (Translation: Branches, restrain.)

Hope you liked it!


	12. Some Revelations and Good Times

When Merlin arrived to the chambers the very next morning, Arthur decided it was the perfect time to talk about the future with the warlock.

Rubbing his hands together, Arthur started with, "So… Merlin… I have an idea for something for us to do this morning."

"Whatever happened to me getting two days off?" Merlin grumbled, a twinkle of humor shining in his eyes.

"You'll get them soon enough; stop complaining. Anyway, I thought that we might… I don't know… maybe start working on how to repeal the ban on magic?" Arthur suggested.

Merlin dropped the plate he was holding, and it fell to the ground before he could react. Thankfully, it was empty so it simply clattered on the floor. Merlin bent down quickly and picked it up.

"Sorry," he mumbled automatically, then added, "Are you serious?"

"I don't see why not. I can hardly keep the law as it is, Merlin, and not just because of you," Arthur explained. "I've had my doubts about magic and sorcerers for quite a while, even before you came to Camelot, and now learning about what my father truly did, I know that things need to change. Besides…" and at this he chuckled, "If you had been used to using magic you could've actually caught that plate."

Merlin pretended to scowl at that, then asked, "How are you going to do it?"

"I… don't know," Arthur admitted, sighing. "I don't know what the laws were before the Great Purge, or even what it was like. I was told by my father that it was chaotic because of magic, but I hardly believe that and I didn't truly believe it then. I knew how he wanted to paint himself as the hero."

"Gaius would remember what it was like before the ban on magic. Maybe we should start by asking him," Merlin suggested.

Arthur nodded and headed towards the door, "Let's go, then."

*****

When they arrived at the physician's quarters, they found Gaius and Gwaine inside. Daegal was out doing errands, and Eira, wanting to get familiar with Camelot, had gone with him.

That day was supposed to be Gwaine's last day having to reside temporarily in the physician's quarters. He was no longer bedridden, though still fairly weak. He could've been moved back to his own chambers if he'd insisted, but nobody truly minded that he was there. It did make the quarters a little crowded, though, since there were practically five of them now living there.

When Daegal had moved in with Gaius and Merlin, it had been decided that Merlin would still keep his own room and that Daegal would sleep in the main chambers with Gaius, usually. If they had guests, Merlin would be kicked out of his room. If they had patients, Daegal might sleep on the floor of Merlin's bedroom unless the patients needed constant care.

"Sire, Merlin, what brings you here so early?" Gaius asked, looking up from the book he'd been reading. Gwaine, meanwhile, had looked thoroughly bored until he'd noticed their presence, sitting at a table with some food.

Arthur glanced at Gwaine, then remembered that Merlin had said Gwaine apparently had known about his magic all along, though the knight only told the servant just before Camlann.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions, Gaius. If I'm not disturbing you, that is," Arthur explained.

Gaius shook his head, "You aren't disturbing me at all, Sire. Shall we sit down?"

Arthur nodded, then cocked his head towards Gwaine.

"I suppose we might as well include Gwaine in this conversation as well," he added. The three of them moved to sit at the table where Gwaine was.

"Due to Merlin's magic, we need to change the law. We need to remove the ban on magic. The thing is… I'm not entirely sure how to. The ban was placed due to… circumstances around my birth… so I cannot remember a time when it was allowed. And I've never truly traveled anywhere where it is allowed. Gaius, what was it like before the ban?" Arthur asked urgently.

Gaius leaned back as he thought of how to answer the question. After a few seconds, he admitted, "It wasn't perfect. If it had been, nobody would have agreed with your father's law. There were quite a few who used magic for their own ends, but there were also those who used it for good. There were plenty who only used a little bit of magic to make their lives easier. There were a few who were unable to use magic, who feared it, though. At the very beginning of the Great Purge, the fear grew to unforeseen heights. Not just of magic, but of also being accused of magic. Those without magic didn't understand magic, and it scared them. Those who had used only a little bit of magic usually quit, since they were able to. Those who used it for good or for their own ends, however, refused to stop. The greedy sorcerers continued to blatantly use it, some to their doom. The ones who used it for good generally grew sneakier, gaining a reputation that did not help anyone. The situation spiraled out of control. Brother turned in brother, daughters turned in mothers, even several children were put to death, and it didn't matter if they had been proven to have used magic or what they used it for. I think that most of the fear of magic doesn't come from sorcerers, necessarily, but from the chaos of the Great Purge.

"After a year, your father decided on a method to get rid of most of the sorcerers, though it mostly attracted those who used it for good who just wanted peace. He invited the Great Dragon, and other magicians, saying that he wanted to make peace with them and had noticed the error of his ways."

At this point, Arthur noticed Merlin's hands clenching tightly and an angry expression on his face. The warlock had been mostly passive before, though still visibly grieved for not only the injustice done to so many, magic or not. Arthur had felt angered at the dishonorable acts done to them as well. But this… this was something Merlin was passionately angry about, and Arthur's brain was trying to come up with a reason.

That's when it occurred to him. He put a hand on his friend's shoulder to let him know that it was okay to be upset, but to not let it get out of control.

"But it was a trap. He imprisoned the Great Dragon underneath the castle and set the sorcerers who had come for execution. I was only able to secretly free a few, one of which was Merlin's father, Balinor the dragonlord."

"Wow, Gaius, I never knew you were so rebellious," Gwaine complimented him in Gwaine fashion. "I'm impressed."

Gaius mostly ignored the knight and continued, "I think that you could bring magic back, and bring about a golden age that would be greater than it was before, my lord. The people love you, and I'm sure that everyone is tired of this never-ending war. Treat those with magic the same as those without. Back before the ban on magic, those with magic were represented by those who sought power, just as they have been. However, many magic-users just want to be accepted by their family and their friends, or to help out in whatever way they can."

"I… don't know… Gaius. But there's no way we cannot try," Arthur admitted, pulling his hand to his forehead like he did when he was stressed.

There a few seconds of silence, then Gwaine cleared his throat, saying, "Sire, if I may, I have traveled to many places before I became a knight of Camelot. Many of them taverns, but… you know… I still saw quite a lot. There were a few places where magic was allowed, and the people lived in harmony. For all of the evil sorcerers, there were good ones to counteract them, and nobody was completely helpless. But nobody saw that they needed to rely on the magicians. Most sorcerers treated magic as a talent, and did not become consumed with it. It seems to me that before, the fanatics grew powerful and became the 'nobles', lording their power over the 'lesser' sorcerers. Just like we have torn down the wall between commoners and nobles, I think that we can tear down the wall between the 'priests" and 'priestesses' and the normal magic-users."

"I suggest that you check out with Geoffrey with the records and books that were banned since the Great Purge," Gaius added.

Arthur glanced at Merlin and nodded. "We'll do that," he declared. "We also need to figure out how to tell Leon and Percival about you, Merlin."

Merlin whined, "Do we have to?"

Arthur rolled his eyes, "Yes, Merlin, we have to. We'll need their support, and you know that you want them to know. You just don't want to tell them."

Gwaine leaned onto the table with a glint of mischief in eyes, and suggested, "Perhaps we warm them into the idea before we reveal it."

"What do you mean?" Arthur eyed the knight suspiciously.

"We prank them. It's simple enough. Merlin will cause something magical to happen around them, and we'll pretend that we didn't notice it. Besides, guys, don't you want to prank them? They've pranked us plenty of times!"

"You mean, they've pranked you plenty of times," Merlin pointed out.

"And? I don't see your point," Gwaine joked. "Doesn't it sound enticing?"

Gaius was just watching the three of them, shaking his head at the youth.

Arthur was stroking his chin, although he had no beard there, and countered, "Aren't you supposed to be resting or something?"

"I won't be doing that much. I'll come up with the prank, and you two will execute it," Gwaine offered.

Arthur knew he was supposed to be responsible and not encourage this… but..

Ah, who was he kidding. This sounded fun and Arthur felt that he deserved something fun after all he'd been through recently.

"Well, Merlin, what do you say? Should we?" Arthur turned to the servant.

Merlin seemed to also be thinking. Perhaps he didn't want to use his magic against his friends and possibly frighten them. But he seemed to reach the same conclusion as Arthur and nodded.

They both turned to Gwaine, and Arthur asked, "So, what's the plan?"

*****

Merlin and Arthur had gone to Geoffrey after Gwaine told them his plan and carried plenty of books to research back to Arthur's chambers. Geoffrey had eyed them strangely, particularly Merlin, but besides that was normal as usual.

Leaving Merlin's magic to do his chores, they'd mulled over the books with Guinevere until lunchtime, but they hadn't gotten very far. They did learn that there was a lot more to it than they had initially thought, but that didn't deter them.

In the early afternoon, they decided to execute the prank. Then at supper, they would hold a meeting of the Original Round Table where Arthur would reveal Merlin as the sorcerer at Camlann.

Heading towards where the two knights would be, Merlin quickly reached out with his instinctive magic and gave his request to it of what he wanted it to. He could've figured out a proper enchantment that would do something exactly, but he didn't really care all that much.

As they entered the room where Leon and Percival could be found on the floor, trying to chase pink bunnies.

Arthur, swallowing down his laughter, cleared his throat and greeted them seriously, "Gentlemen."

The knights perked up at the sound, and Leon answered, "Sire? Sorry, we're a bit busy at the moment."

"I can see that," Arthur responded dryly. "I'm sure crawling on the floor is very important, but I came to ask you a few questions."

"Don't you two see them?" Leon asked, confused, standing up.

"See what?" Merlin asked, glancing around.

"The pink rabbits!" Percival shouted, nearly catching one.

Arthur and Merlin looked at them with judgmental looks.

"Do you need to see Gaius?" Arthur asked.

"No!" Leon disagreed quickly. "It's nothing. What were you going to ask us?" then he added in a harsh, desperate whisper, "Percival! Cut it out!"

Percival now had successfully caught three bunnies, holding them in his arms.

"Well," Arthur began, keeping a straight face, "I talked with Gwaine and he said that you three once had an encounter with Dragoon the Great in the forest so I was going to ask you about…"

"No!" Percival denied quickly, accidentally dropping his hard-earned bunnies.

Leon turned around to get Percival to really, cut it out.

As they were turned around, Merlin let his magic make the bunnies vanish.

"They disappeared!" Leon gasped, then turned around.

Leon and Percival looked like they might die of embarrassment as Merlin and Arthur speedily left the room.

"What do you think they're thinking?" Merlin whispered to Arthur.

Arthur visibly had to keep himself from laughing. Then he ordered, "You better tell Gwaine that the prank is finished. I'm going back to my chambers."

*****

Guinevere had spent the majority of the morning poring over books with Arthur and Merlin, and after lunch they had left.

She was feeling fatigued recently, and she couldn't think of why. Arthur was home, so she wasn't sick with worrying over him.

She decided she'd have Gaius check her… after a nap.

When she woke up from her nap later, she didn't feel much different. Sighing, she sent one of the guards to give a message to Gaius, that she would like to see him but that it wasn't urgent.

The old physician came after about an hour, asking, "You sent for me, my lady?"

She had been sitting, staring out of the window, but at the sound of his voice she got up.

"Yes," she answered, moving towards him, "I've been feeling strange recently. Almost like I'm sick. I've been feeling like this for a couple of weeks, now that I think about it. I thought at first that it had to do with all the worrying over Arthur, but then why did it continue?"

Gaius smiled. "I have my own theory, but would you allow me to check you over first?"

Gwen laughed, "Of course. That's why I called for you, Gaius."

After he checked her over, he stepped back.

"Well?" she asked. "What do you think it is?"

"I think you'll be alright. As I said before, I have my own theory, but we would need magic in order to confirm it," Gaius assured her.

"So, should we get Merlin?" she asked, confused.

"We won't need Merlin," Gaius declared pointedly.

Gwen laughed as she realized what he was implying, "I trust you, Gaius. As your queen, I permit you to use whatever magic is necessary."

Gaius nodded, then admitted, "It may take me a little longer than Merlin; I am a bit rusty. But I'm sure I can figure it out."

After a little bit, Guinevere heard him say a few words that she didn't recognize at all, and Gaius's eyes flashed gold. She braced herself, as the sight was certainly strange, but she felt nothing.

"So?" she asked, guessing that the process was over.

Gaius smiled brightly, "I'm afraid that you'll be feeling not your best for about nine months. Congratulations, you are pregnant with twins."

It took a few seconds for her to process what he had just announced. She was… expecting??

She smiled widely, and repeated, "Twins?"

Gaius nodded.

She gave out a giddy laugh and hugged Gaius.

She meant to say something, but she couldn't seem to get past her giggles.

Gaius bowed, then left the chambers and leaving Gwen with the good news.

It didn't seem very long at all until Arthur entered with his own grin, oblivious to what Guinevere knew.

"You seem happy," she pointed out, sitting at the table

He smiled back at her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head, "You always make me happy, love."

"Hmm," she shook her head as she stood up to embrace him as well, "Something tells me that you were happy for another reason. Were you up to some mischief, Arthur Pendragon?"

"Of course not, love," he said, knowing that he didn't sound convincing in any way. He kissed her cheek and asked, "Why are you so happy?"

She took her hands, bracing herself to share the news. She smiled up at him.

"I just checked something over with Gaius. He said that we'll be having twins in about nine months."

Arthur certainly wasn't expecting this. He stared at her for a few moments.

"You're… you're… expecting?" Arthur gasped. "We're going… we're going… to be parents?"

Guinevere nodded, smiling.

Arthur stared off at the distance, then finally a bright smile spread over his face.

He kissed her cheek again and declared, "If they're anything like you, Guinevere, they'll be amazing."

*****

It was suppertime, and Arthur and Guinevere sat at the head of the table in their chambers, and around the table sat Gaius, Gwaine, Leon, and Percival. Merlin served them, as that was his job, then stood behind Arthur.

To say he was nervous was an understatement. His heart was hammering Sure, he wasn't quite as nervous as when he'd told Arthur, but that didn't make this any easier. He was infinitely glad that Gwaine and Guinevere had figured out his magic all on their own and accepted him.

Merlin couldn't tell if Arthur was nervous at all. He was excellent at appearing confident. Merlin was jealous of this ability quite a lot. If he wasn't nervous himself, though, he could sometimes tell when Arthur was actually nervous.

Arthur set down his goblet, and apparently decided it was time.

He started, "I wanted to hold this meeting of the Original Round Table for a reason. Those in this room are the ones that I trust explicitly. It's been hard for me to learn just who I can trust, but I want you to know that I trust each and every one of you. We've been through thick and thin, and we've come out each time. We have lost some of our fellow members, but we remember them dearly."

Everyone nodded to this. Merlin felt himself swallow down tears at Arthur's little speech.

Arthur continued, "As you know, at the battle of Camlann, we were helped by a sorcerer who we have known as Dragoon the Great, despite the fact that we have shunned magic before. The sorcerer revealed his true identity to me, and, surprise, his actual name is not Dragoon the Great." That gained some laughter from everyone else but Merlin, who was trying very hard to breath normally. "While he asked for nothing in return, I have determined that magic should be legal again. I have learned that it was not because magic was evil that it was banned, but because of my father's guilt of a mistake that he blamed on magic. It was not because of her magic that my sister turned against us, but because of my father's hatred against magic, the magic that she could not control having."

Everyone except Merlin nodded to this, agreeing. Not that he didn't agree, but he found himself staring stubbornly at the wall, knowing that he was about to be revealed.

"It was because we were blind to the true nature of magic that most of us have missed something very important. The sorcerer at the Battle who helped us did not help us for his own glory. This sorcerer has been hiding, protecting us, longing for a day where he could be accepted for the magic that he could not control having, either. Sure, Camelot is a strange place to come seeking for this acceptance, but I'll never understand his mind. The sorcerer revealed that he lives in Camelot. In fact, in this very room, he is…" Arthur paused for dramatic reasons. "Now, remember, I am being absolutely serious here. I'm not joking. He is… the only one standing up"

All eyes swiveled towards Merlin, regardless of whether they already knew or not. He swallowed nervously and nodded.

"Merlin?" Leon asked, realization dawning across his face. "You were the sorcerer."

Percival seemed to be processing this information, when he asked, "Did Lancelot know?"

Merlin stared at Percival, confused, then nodded, "Yes, yes, Lancelot did know."

Arthur, sensing his discomfort, took over for him, "As I said before, Merlin revealed himself to me, so obviously I know already. Gaius and Lancelot practically knew they each met Merlin, so has Gwaine apparently, though he chose not to say anything to anyone until recently. Guinevere just figured it out while Merlin was taking me to be healed after the Battle. Leon and Percival, I would like to know your opinions on this matter."

"Sire," Leon began, "I trust your judgment on this, and we have known Merlin for a long time. There is no one more loyal to you. As for magic, I owe my life to the Druids and I will follow you wherever you lead us."

"I grew up outside of Camelot, where magic was more common," Percival admitted. "I have never hated it, but I figured that Camelot had its reasons for banning it. You were always just when it came to the cases with it. I will follow you where you lead us as well. As for Merlin, he has always been one of us, and magic does not change that."

"Thank you," Merlin said fervently. "You have no idea… how nervous I've been… that you would all see me differently."

Everyone nodded to this, smiling at Merlin.

"Wait," Leon said. "You didn't happen to use magic on us earlier today?"

Gaius and Guinevere turned curiously to Merlin, not hearing about this, while Arthur and Gwaine nearly choked trying not to laugh.

Merlin, eager to get out of this awkward part, confessed, "It was Gwaine's idea. And Arthur ordered me to do it."

Leon and Percival began to laugh, which made Arthur and Gwaine start roaring in laughter, which then made Gaius, Gwen, and Merlin laugh.

After awhile, when everyone had managed to quit laughing, Arthur then turned to Guinevere, squeezing her hand.

"What we have and will discuss in this room must not be shared for the time being. We have another announcement to make as well. Guinevere and I… we are expecting twins."

Gwaine, Leon and Percival looked at them, surprised and happy, but Merlin did not seem surprised. Instead, he seemed smug and very, very happy. Arthur looked at him questioningly.

"I sensed it already," he admitted sheepishly.

*****

**Author's Note**

So, hoped you liked Leon's and Percival's reactions.

My browser history or whatever is going to be confused since I researched early pregnancy symptoms for this… oh boy…

We're starting to get into juicy stuff.


	13. Not So Common

It had been a week since the reveal of Merlin's magic to Leon and Percival and Arthur and Guinevere's news that they were expecting twins.

The very next day after that, Gwaine had moved back into his chambers. Even after a week, he still was not considered recovered enough to return to all of his duties, so he took to idly watching the people bustle around the castle.

Growing comfortable in Camelot, Eira had tried to keep herself busy by helping out wherever she could. Gwaine suspected that it kept her mind off of all that she'd been through recently.

He was sitting on the steps of the courtyard that morning when Merlin joined him.

"Hello, Merlin," he greeted the servant cheerfully, moving over to 'create' room for Merlin to sit, as if the courtyard steps weren't wide enough.

"Hi, Gwaine," Merlin responded, plopping down beside him. "How have you been feeling?"

"Bored," Gwaine admitted immediately, sighing. "Whatcha doing?"

"I wish I was bored," Merlin grumbled. "Who knew researching in order to change the law could be so exhausting? On top of that, I feel like everyone who knows about me is looking at me strangely as if they're expecting me to grow feathers or something."

Gwaine laughed and patted Merlin's back, "It's alright, mate, I don't think any differently of you."

"That's 'cause you already knew," Merlin countered.

"So did Gaius and Daegal," Gwaine pointed out.

"Yes, and they've been looking at me smiling even more than usual, as if I did something wonderful. I just did my duty. I've saved Arthur hundreds of times, and I nearly failed this time," Merlin explained, gesturing wildly with his hands to emphasize his point.

"They're just happy for you, mate. You're finally getting the credit you've deserved. I can understand not wanting the attention though," Gwaine stated, looking back at the courtyard. "What are you doing out here, anyway? Doesn't Arthur need you for researching?"

"He gave me today and tomorrow 'off'," Merlin explained, leaning back on a step behind them with his elbows. "He'd promised me two days off when we were traveling to the lake."

Gwaine held a hand to his chest and dramatically leaned back, gasping, " _Two_ days off? Has this ever happened before?"

Merlin shook his head, "Nope, I've never had two days in a row off. One day's rare enough. We should have Geoffrey document it."

Gwaine nodded eagerly, "Well, yes, such a momentous event deserves to go down in history."

They looked at each other and laughed lightly.

"So, why did Arthur choose now to kick you out of his chambers for today and tomorrow?" Gwaine asked.

"He said something about how he thinks he'd be able to get more done than both of us if I wasn't there, which is clearly not true. He also ordered me to research something on my own." Merlin leaned forward, now resting his elbows on his knees so that his hands held up his face. Sighing, he continued, "For the past week, he's been bugging me to find a way to project my memories from when I came to Camelot and after so that others can see them. He wants to see how many times I've saved his life, and apparently he wants the whole Original Round Table to see them too. But I've been thinking for the past week about it and I just can't seem to come up with any good solutions."

"You're fine with all of us seeing your memories?" Gwaine questioned, furrowing his brows.

Merlin took his hands off of his face and sat up straighter.

"I admit; it sounds scary, all of my secrets being laid out for people to see, especially when I've been hiding all my life. But… I'm tired of lying, Gwaine. And it won't be all of them, I'm sure. We wouldn't have time for all of them. Just the important ones. Besides," Merlin then had a twinkle in his eye, "I'll make sure to project plenty of embarrassing memories of Arthur as payback, and just let him think that I can't entirely control what it shows."

"Would you be able to entirely control what it shows?" Gwaine then asked, curious.

"I'm not sure; I haven't been able to experiment it much. Probably not; I'd want to pull from other people's memories in order to have it make more sense. But I can manipulate it to a certain extent, at the very least," Merlin answered.

They sat in silence for a little while, when Gwaine jumped up suddenly.

"Well, if we need to figure out how to do this in two days, we better get moving, maybe grab some apples as snacks. Come on, Merls," Gwaine declared, holding his hand out for Merlin to take.

Merlin blinked, then asked as he took Gwaine's offered hand, "Did you just call me 'Merls'?"

Gwaine nodded, laughed, and explained, "New era, new nickname, mate."

*****

The real reason Arthur had forced Merlin out of his chambers was not because Merlin was actually distracting but because he wanted to research something in particular that he didn't want Merlin to find out just yet, or question him on.

Arthur knew that, sooner or later, they would someday actually get to repealing the law, and that when they did, Camelot would need an official Court Sorcerer. Obviously, the most powerful sorcerer ever to walk the earth should fill that role. And even if Merlin wasn't the most powerful, Arthur wouldn't want anyone else to be Court Sorcerer because he needed it to be someone he could trust.

Now, Arthur also knew that Merlin was stubborn and much too modest for his own good. Merlin believed his place to be as Arthur's servant, and so he would drag his heels strongly if Arthur suggested anything else.

Not that Arthur wouldn't miss Merlin being his servant, but a promotion was long overdue. Over the time they'd been separated before Camlann, Arthur had learned that he didn't need the servant around him all of the time.

Still, Arthur was planning on having Merlin moved to chambers just down the hall from him when he would become Court Sorcerer, so perhaps he wouldn't really miss Merlin all that much.

Anyway, onto his plan of sneakily promoting Merlin.

First off, he was fairly certain that before the Great Purge, Dragonlords had actually been normal lords as well, at least some of them, including Balinor.

He'd asked Gaius, and Gaius had said yes, Balinor had been a lord. Gaius and Hunith had decided not to tell Merlin that bit--apparently Gaius wasn't supposed to tell Merlin that Balinor was his father, either. Arthur thought that was rather unfair to Merlin; he had a right to know the truth about his heritage. However, he did consider that if Merlin had known growing up that he was the son of a Dragonlord, a noble one at that, he would've felt infinitely more resentment towards Uther. If Arthur was put in the position, he would've avoided Camelot except to enact revenge. Arthur and Merlin certainly would not have been friends, or even acquaintances.

He was really starting to see why Camelot had been constantly attacked by sorcerers. He had loved his father, but he had had it coming to him. He only hoped that he could right the wrongs that had been done to so many because of his father's grief.

If Merlin were to know now, it might cause a little bit of trouble between him and his mother and Gaius, but they'd get over it quickly.

If Merlin was aware that he was legitimately a noble (well, technically Balinor hadn't married Hunith, but they hadn't had a chance to. Balinor had clearly accepted Merlin as his son), he would have much less reason to protest against being made Court Sorcerer and First Advisor.

Arthur couldn't exactly wrap his mind around the fact that his servant of over eight years had been a noble all along, but there were more surprising things Arthur had found out in his life.

Sighing, he turned back to the books, trying to find written proof of Merlin's nobility on paper.

*****

Merlin and Gwaine were flipping through Merlin's magic book, trying to find something to project memories just the way that they wanted to project them. In the process, Merlin learned that he could push images into someone else's mind, but it was draining and Merlin didn't want to do it for the whole Original Round Table.

They'd experimented mostly with projecting it on the wall of Merlin's room or on a bowl of water. None of them seemed to work quite as well.

It was late afternoon when Merlin flopped back onto the back of his bed while Gwaine sat in the chair at the desk.

"None of them are working, Gwaine," Merlin complained, resting his head on the wall.

"I'm sure we'll find something, mate. We just need to think of something different," Gwaine declared optimistically. Gwaine's mood was starting to annoy Merlin.

"Like what?" Merlin groaned.

"Well, what else can be manipulated to create images?" Gwaine asked. "There must be something."

Merlin stared at the bowl of water when an idea came to his mind.

"Ohh, why didn't I think of that before?" Merlin moaned, holding his hand to his head. "A crystal basically shows images without you having to even try, you just have to have magic. And there's a crystal locked in the vaults, it's called the Crystal of Neahtid."

"How do you know what's locked in the vaults?" Gwaine asked, glancing at him suspiciously.

"That's one of those stories that I'll have to share with it," Merlin vaguely explained. "C'mon, we need Arthur in order to get into the vaults."

*****

Arthur had found what should be Merlin's seal of nobility shortly after lunch, and Guinevere had joined him in collecting all of the sources where the prophecy of the Once and Future King and Emrys was, and any sources on Court Sorcerers. Guinevere completely agreed with Arthur on making Merlin the Court Sorcerer.

It was nearly dinnertime when Arthur heard the brief knock that signaled Merlin entering the chambers. Quickly, Arthur and Gwen tried to cover anything that might give away what they had been researching.

Both Merlin and Gwaine entered. Somehow Arthur wasn't surprised that Merlin had recruited Gwaine to help him with his mission.

Holding a quill, Arthur pretended to be writing something and looked down at the paper.

"I thought I gave you two days off, Merlin," Arthur commented, now doodling.

"Yes, two days 'off' to find out how to spill all of my secrets," Merlin rolled his eyes. "And that's why I'm here, actually. I've tried different methods, but the one that I think will work I currently can't test. I need the Crystal of Neahtid retrieved from the vaults."

"Why do you need the Crystal of Neahtid?" Arthur asked, now attempting to write something that resembled something intelligible as Merlin and Gwaine stepped closer.

"Well, I don't necessarily need that crystal, but I do need a crystal and that was the first to come to mind and I can't think of any others in the castle," Merlin explained, picking up one of the papers that had been covering one about Court Sorcerers. "How has it been here without me?"

"It's been fantastic," Arthur joked, hoping to distract Merlin. "Actually… Here," he said, pulling out of the seal of nobility, "I found out that your father was an actual lord on top of being a Dragonlord."

Merlin stared at it in surprise, thoroughly distracted from looking at the other papers on the table.

"You mean I'm…?" he started,

"Well, he accepted you as his son, so, yes, you are technically a noble, Merlin," Arthur pretended to be nonchalant about it, while secretly watching Merlin's reaction. While Merlin continued to examine the seal eagerly, Arthur looked back down at the piece of parchment that he'd been writing nonsense on and continued doodling on it.

Gwaine noticed this and raised his eyebrows. Arthur raised his eyebrows in response and nodded his head to the side in Merlin's direction.

Gwaine nodded, seemingly understanding.

"Anyway, we can get the crystal from the vaults first thing in the morning, Merlin," Arthur continued. "There's also a council meeting tomorrow, and I expect you both to be there. I'm planning on bringing up the ban on magic to see their reactions. Nothing else."

"Okay," Merlin said, placing the seal down on the table, and turning to leave.

"You can take the seal with you, Merlin," Arthur gestured. "It is yours, after all."

"Oh, yeah," Merlin grabbed it awkwardly. "Thanks."

With that, Merlin and Gwaine left the chambers.

"Success," Arthur declared to Guinevere, twirling the quill around in his hand.

"We've still got a ways to go," Guinevere pointed out, laughing gently.

"Well, it's a start," Arthur shrugged.

*****

The very next morning, true to his word, Arthur took Merlin down to the vaults and they got the Crystal.

Afterwards, Merlin and Gwaine immediately set to work on figuring out how to project memories.

Shortly before lunchtime, they'd worked it out, and were now coming up with which memories to show the group.

Merlin absently tapped his fingers on the table, trying to think what events he should include and their chronological order. Gwaine sat ready with the ink and quill, ready to write up a title for each main memory that Merlin would insist they include in the list. He'd declared that he was great at coming up with titles to stories, and Merlin let him since he didn't feel like doing all of the work.

"Well, obviously, we have to include when I came to Camelot, met everybody, learned about my destiny from the dragon, and the first time I saved Arthur's life," Merlin declared. Gwaine started to write down something.

"Then we'll have one about my first days as Arthur's servant, I saved him from this knight called Valiant who wasn't valiant in any way and had a magical snake shield. Then next would probably be the time that Nimueh cast a plague on Camelot using an Afanc; there was a lot of interesting things in that event. We found out it was her because the egg that the Afanc had come from had her mark. Then there was the time that Nimueh poisoned Arthur's chalice and I had to drink it, then…" Merlin continued for a good, solid hour at the very least.

Gwaine came up with titles fairly quickly, mostly based on the information that Merlin gave of the memory. Once Merlin had finished, Gwaine pushed the parchment toward the warlock. It somehow divided into 5 sections with eleven to thirteen memories in each section.

Merlin picked it up and read aloud, "The Dragon's Call, Valiant, The Mark of Nimueh, The Poisoned Chalice… wow, you are good at coming up with titles. I never would have come up with this." Merlin grinned brightly, "Thanks, Gwaine!"

"No problem, Merls," Gwaine replied cheekily, gaining a slight scowl from Merlin at the new nickname.

"I suppose we better report to Arthur now," Merlin sighed, now standing up. "Ready?"

*****

Arthur and Guinevere had been thinking of what Merlin could wear as Court Sorcerer when Merlin and Gwaine had entered, declaring that they had found a solution.

Then it was time for the council meeting… Arthur knew it was necessary but he still kind of dreaded it. What if nobody thought that magic should be legal?

At first it had gone smoothly until Arthur had brought up the sorcerer at Camlann and asked people's opinion.

One old, stuffy lord named Lord Caradoc very much had an opinion on it. So much so that nobody else could get their opinion in. He went off on a rant about how Arthur had changed so much from his father and that the kingdom was doomed. Now he wanted to change the law on magic after he'd married a serving girl and knighted commoners! The queen was a rare exception, the lord had quickly tried to stray away from treason, but most of the commoners who had been knighted were not decent.

Arthur watched Gwaine twitch all throughout Lord Caradoc's speech and instinctively knew that Gwaine was about to argue with the lord. He wasn't expecting what Gwaine ended up saying.

Gwaine suddenly declared, "I was born a noble, my father was a knight, so that doesn't really support your theory."

Arthur and everyone else at the Round Table stared at Gwaine in shock. Lord Caradoc immediately shut up, speechless.

Quickly, Arthur glanced at Merlin, who was trying to hold back a laugh and also seemed to be shocked. But Merlin seemed shocked that Gwaine had revealed his nobility and not surprised that Gwaine was a noble.

One knight recovered from the shock and spoke up, "My lord, we owe the sorcerer all of our lives. If he hadn't come, we would certainly have died. If I saw the sorcerer today, I would go up to him and thank him."

Thankfully, most of the other knights nodded, agreeing, as well as over half of the older council members. It wasn't unanimous, but it was a majority, and honestly more than Arthur had been expecting.

"If you decide, Sire, to legalize magic, we will stand beside you," another knight declared.

"We will see," Arthur stated, inwardly relieved. "This meeting is dismissed."

Everyone stood up, and in a matter of seconds only the Original Round Table remained in the room.

Arthur swiveled towards Gwaine quickly and slightly angrily, and shouted "Why didn't you ever tell us the fact that you were a bloody _noble_?!"

"Didn't feel necessary until now," Gwaine admitted, shrugging. "I hated other nobles when I initially came to Camelot. Then when you knighted the four of us, I fit in better with the commoner knights than the nobles."

"But you told Merlin, didn't you?" Arthur accused angrily, turning towards the servant.

Merlin flinched and looked fearfully at Arthur.

Arthur instantly softened at that, and tried to correct himself, "I mean, at least that's the way it looked, I could be wrong, I…"

"No," Merlin shook his head resolutely. "You're right, I did know. Gwaine told me when he was a little drunk, though, and it wasn't my secret to reveal."

Arthur threw his hands up in surrender, then strode to leave the room. Guinevere quickly followed him with a smile and roll of her eyes.

Just as Arthur opened the door, he declared, "I want all of you at my chambers for dinner. And, Merlin, bring that crystal."

*****

**Author's Note**

I've wondered why Gwaine hasn't revealed that he's actually a noble, and what would happen if he did.

It isn't that much of a stretch to assume that Balinor was an actual lord on top of being a Dragonlord. It makes it all the easier for his relatives to be dubbed noble, after all.

I've seen "Lord Caradoc" as a jerk in council meetings in other fics, so I decided, hey, why not?

I finally did the math, and concluded that the show (the story in the show, not the actual show itself) spans eight to nine years. This was my logic: there's a year between season 1 and season 2, a year between season 2 and season 3, a year between season 3 and season 4, and about three years between season 4 and season 5. There's six years. In season 4, we're shown that it spans from Samhain (which has been changed into current-day Halloween) to Beltane (around Easter, or the start of spring). That's half a year. Assuming that each season lasts half a year, roughly, that leaves us at eight and a half years. Well… I'm not entirely sure what happens to the timeline in season 5, since apparently in episode 3 we go from the anniversary of Arthur's coronation (shortly after Samhain) to Arthur and Gwen's anniversary (they had their wedding shortly after Beltane) in episode 7? In fact, I'm not entirely sure what happened to continuity in season 5, for that matter…

Now as for age, I assumed that Arthur came of age in Season 1 Episode 9 at age 21. Arthur's birthday is sometime shortly after Samhain, as shown in season 4. I guessed that Merlin is about 2 years younger than Arthur, since at the very beginning of the show we're told that it's been 20 years since the Great Dragon was captured. Obviously, after Kilgharrah was captured then Balinor still has to get close to Hunith, and then you have to add nine months onto that. I'm assuming they had a few months together, but Uther was still trying to chase Balinor. I've seen quite a lot of people use Colin Morgan's birthday as Merlin's (since poor Merlin doesn't have a birthday in the show D:), so let's say that Arthur was born in November and Merlin was born January 1st, making Merlin a little over 2 years younger than Arthur. If you'd like me to change Merlin's birthday to a different date, I still can since he wasn't given one in canon.

That means that at this point in time, Arthur is 29 and Merlin is 27.

Sorry for this long note. One pet peeve of mine is to make sure I get timelines right in my stories, so that's why I did some math. I usually remember everyone's birthdays in real life.


	14. Flowers After the Storm

In the end, they watched one main memory each night in a row at dinner, finishing them in a little over two months.

There were only a _few_ times that Arthur, irritated, chased Merlin around the chambers after watching something that upset him in particular. He even chased him through the entire castle after only watching the fourth episode and learning that his wife had once kissed the servant. The guards and servants weren't really surprised that he was chasing him. However, he did--eventually--forgive Merlin since he had just woken up from being poisoned. Especially after chasing Gwaine around the castle when he learned that the knight had tried to flirt with his wife.

They learned a lot; they learned of prophecies and dragons, of all sorts of magical creatures, of the turning of Morgana, and of unseen enemies and allies to all of them except for the warlock, among other things.

There a few painful, tense scenes, a few times that some of the members of the Original Round Table chose to sit out of the memory (Merlin chose to sit out the most amount of times). But they would get back together the next day and struggled through it, accepting each other and each other's choices.

After finishing watching the memories, they concluded that watching the memories seemed to change everything and yet nothing at all.

The days were filled with long sessions of working on the law. It seemed that Uther had been very thorough with banning magic, and Arthur, Guinevere and Merlin hadn't known where to begin at first. Gaius only helped them occasionally since he had his own duties as physician to conduct. At first, Arthur had been determined to find some way to contact anyone who had lost a loved one during the Great Purge, but the sheer number was too great.

There had been a few trials of magic-users during the three month period following Camlann, and most of them were just told to hold off on using magic for a time. Only two were actually using magic for clearly evil reasons, and they were executed swiftly with hangings rather than burning at the pyre.

Not that any sorcerers had been burned ever since Arthur began his reign. He had hated watching them as prince and believed that nobody deserved to die like that, no matter how "evil" they were.

Reports of Saxons dwindled in number greatly after Arthur and Merlin had returned to Camelot from the Lake of Avalon. After a month, there were absolutely no sightings of them.

Even though he had the support of most of the council, Arthur learned that changing such a pivotal law was still a long process. Merlin didn't seem to mind, though. He was content that it would happen eventually.

Merlin was getting nervous as time went on and there was no news of Aithusa since the battle. He could've commanded her to come to him, but he wanted her to come in her time. No news was good news to him, so far.

Arthur had continued secretly preparing for Merlin to be made Court Sorcerer, but he still had not brought it up to Merlin. He felt that it wasn't time just yet. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for… some sort of confirmation…

*****

If you had been traveling through the forest by the city of Camelot, you might have heard a loud, jubilant shout of, "Hello trees! Hello birds! Hello sky! I've missed you!"

"Merlin," Daegal rolled his eyes and laughed at the older boy's hysterics. "Gaius wanted us to gather herbs, not declare our love for nature."

Merlin skipped over, whistling.

"You can handle the herb gathering; I'm just here to protect you," he declared, bouncing on his feet.

"Well, if you keep on announcing our presence by shouting, you'll definitely have to protect me," Daegal shook his head exasperatedly and turned back to the herbs he was grabbing.

"We're literally right outside the castle walls currently. Besides, it's been three months since Camlann and I have been inside the castle working on changing the law with Arthur for most of that time," Merlin pointed out, now attempting to balance on a log.

Daegal suddenly playfully threw a stick at Merlin, who dodged it but, because of his innate clumsiness, went falling into thick, green foliage.

He didn't sit back up and instead started laughing gleefully. Out here, he could feel the environment practically glowing with energy. It felt as if the land was singing in happiness of the golden years that were about to come.

Three months was a long time to not go outside. His whole life had been flipped upside down and he wanted this sense of normalcy. He had no idea of what would happen once they _did_ change the law, and part of that frightened him.

"C'mon, get up and help me. The longer we take, the later you will be to help the King and he'll be irritated with you," Daegal offered his hand to Merlin.

Frowning, Merlin took his hand and promptly began actually helping.

*****

Leon, Gwaine, and Percival were on patrol. Well, there hadn't really been much activity so it was kind of a joke of a patrol, and it was just outside the castle walls.

Gwaine was chattering, as he usually did, something about… well to be honest Leon wasn't paying attention to what it was about until…

"I'm thinking of proposing to Eira," Gwaine suddenly announced after a long-winded story that neither Leon nor Percival were entirely sure what it was about.

"Isn't that a bit sudden? You've only known each other for three months," Leon commented.

"I know people who have gotten married faster," Gwaine immediately responded. "Besides, not all of us have to wait four years for the man to become King in order to change the law."

Percival nodded, apparently agreeing to Gwaine's point.

"Anyway," Gwaine continued, "I was wondering if we could get a circle of best men going between the three of us."  


Leon laughed, "As if I'd ever get married. I think I'll forever be a bachelor."

"So you think she'll say yes?" Percival asked Gwaine.

"Why on earth would she want to miss marrying this handsome package?" Gwaine flipped his hair dramatically. Then he added quietly more seriously and nervously, "At least, I hope she would say yes."

"So, how would this circle of best men work? And why don't you include Merlin in it?" Percival inquired, curious.

"When Merlin gets married, if he ever finds a girl that deserves him, he'd most likely have Arthur as his best man, regardless that Arthur couldn't have any groomsmen at his wedding because of 'tradition'," Gwaine declared. "Of course I'll ask Merlin to be one of my groomsmen. As for the circle of best men, this is how it'll work. When I get married, say I pick you, Percival, to be my best man. Then when you get married, don't look at me like that, I've seen how the Lady Emily has been fancying you recently, you'll have, say, Leon as your best man. Then when Leon gets married…"

"I'm not getting married!" Leon interjected indignantly, but Gwaine ignored him.

"… then he'd have me as his best man. That way, each one of us gets a chance to be a groomsman, a best man, and a groom," Gwaine finished. "Questions?"

"That does sound like a good idea," Percival agreed. Leon was outnumbered. Then it occurred to him…

"Gwaine," Leon declared semi-triumphantly, "If we follow that plan, you're never going to be a best man."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure, Leon," Gwaine grinned mischievously. "You can't see the future after all... Unless you've got a crystal and you're Merlin..."

*****

Arthur stared out of the window as he sat at the table with stacks of paper everywhere. There weren't as many papers as there had been for the past few months, but there were still quite a few. The time for magic to be legal was coming soon, and Arthur wasn't sure if he was ready for it.

Arthur looked over at Guinevere, who was hiding the fact that she was pregnant with twins rather well. It was nearly time for them to make an announcement to the kingdom, since now it wouldn't be obvious that they had used magic to confirm the pregnancy.

His wife had grown increasingly more hungry, nauseous, and just plain miserable as she continued with her first trimester.

Merlin was off that morning with Daegal, getting herbs apparently. Arthur didn't blame him in the least for wanting to get outside. It looked gorgeous outside.

Leaning back in his chair, he briefly wondered if he could go on a hunt or something with the servant in the afternoon, since Arthur could not think of the last time he'd been outside just for fun.

Come to think of it, he couldn't think of the last time he'd had some time with Merlin just because he could spend time with Merlin. The knights and Daegal had spent time with the servant, especially _Gwaine_ , according to Arthur.

They'd been around each other plenty, working together on adapting the laws, but besides that they hardly saw each other.

"What are you thinking about?" Guinevere asked gently, noticing that he was staring at nothing.

"Merlin. What else have I been thinking about the past three months?" Arthur sighed, rubbing his forehead with his hand.

"What about Merlin now?" Guinevere encouraged him to continue.

"I know that I need to ask him to be Court Sorcerer soon. But there's something that still seems… not right. I know I keep putting it off, declaring that I'll do it the next day, but I need to do it soon, really. I'm just not sure how. I feel as if I haven't spent any time with him recently just for fun," Arthur explained.

"Well, it seems gorgeous outside. Perhaps you should go out with him and talk," Guinevere suggested, turning back towards the papers.

"Perhaps. Or maybe he'll be busy having fun with somebody else," slipped out of Arthur's mouth before he could stop it.

Guinevere looked sharply at him and asked, "Arthur, are you jealous?"

"What? No!" he vehemently denied.

"You are, aren't you?" Guinevere giggled, not convinced.   


Arthur pouted, which only served to make Gwen laugh more.

"It's not like that!" he protested. He crossed his arms and slightly resembled an agitated toddler.

Guinevere stopped laughing relatively quickly and stated, "Arthur, whatever it is, whoever it is, it's truly between you and Merlin, isn't it? I'm sure you'll be able to clear it up in no time."

"…Yeah…" Arthur agreed hesitantly, slouching in his chair.

*****

Several plants later, Merlin and Daegal were about to head back to Camelot. They were quite a ways out and it was early afternoon.

They'd gathered all of the necessary herbs, and even some extra ones just because they could.

Merlin followed Daegal's lead, covering his back.

A twig snapped. A rock fell out of place. There were no birds singing.

Normally, Merlin wouldn't be attuned to this, that was Arthur's expertise after all, but all of his years with the King had rubbed off on him.

"Shhh!" he called out to the younger boy, searching the woods for the predator.

Daegal stopped, then slowly and silently walked back to Merlin.

"What is it?" he whispered, worried. His hands were visibly shaking.

That didn't exactly fill Merlin with confidence, but he'd been in scarier situations.

"I don't know," Merlin whispered in answer, stepping towards where the sound had come from.

He heard a whimper. A whimper? Was it an injured animal?

Merlin tip-toed further in the direction. His gaze found a cave that was well-hidden.

He crouched and peered into the cave.

Then he fell backwards at what he saw.

Although that was possibly because a big white thing suddenly smothered him.

"Aithusa!" Merlin laughed happily.

Aithusa made a happy sound, now reunited with her dragonlord, then she seemed to notice Daegal's presence for the first time. She backed off, looking scared.

"It's alright," Merlin grinned at both of his companions. "Daegal, Aithusa. Aithusa, Daegal."

Taking a deep breath, Daegal took a tentative step forward, holding out his hands to show that he was no threat. Aithusa then moved closer to the boy, though she kept her tail curled around Merlin.

"She still needs healed…" Daegal took note as he gently patted her head.

Merlin sighed, "Yes, she does. I'm not sure how to heal her, though."

Aithusa was contented by Daegal's attention, but suddenly wanted to convey some sort of message to Merlin.

She turned back to the warlock, getting right up in his face, making a lot of noises.

Merlin was startled, but relieved that she didn't seem like she was going to burn his face off.

"I still can't quite understand you, Aithusa," Merlin tried to tell her, cupping his hands around her head. "But I promise that I'll find a way to make you feel better."

She sighed, seeming to realize that they still couldn't communicate just yet, and placed her head in Merlin's lap, trapping his legs underneath her neck.

Merlin laid his hand on top of her head as her eyelids drooped shut.

"We should get back. See if you can find anything that could help her, now that we know where she is," Daegal stated, standing back up.

Merlin nodded, tapping Aithusa's head before she fell asleep on top of him. She seemed to understand and let him go.

He pushed himself up, then turned back to Aithusa.

"I'll come back soon," he tried to tell her in dragon speak.

She nodded, then retreated back into her cave.

With one last glance at the cave mouth, they quickly hurried back to Camelot.

*****

Guinevere and Arthur were sitting in the council chambers, going over papers (they seemed infinite) and such when Gwaine suddenly entered.

She watched as Arthur mildly glared at the knight. Of course, he had been doing that quite a bit at Gwaine recently, but Arthur had always been able to find something to be irritated with the knight about. It was an unspoken rule between them.

"What is this about, Sir Gwaine?" Arthur asked with a stern tone.

"Ah, well, I'm going to propose to Eira soon, and I was wondering if you would officiate it, my lord," Gwaine asked respectfully.

"You're older than me, Gwaine. Why would you want me to officiate your wedding?" Arthur questioned, confused.

"Let's see," Gwaine instantly began to list off, as if he'd been prepared for Arthur's question, "One, you're the King, so it would be awkward to have you as a groomsman, plus I'm not sure if Eira could come up with more than three bridesmaids. Two, you may be younger than me but you have been married for more than three years. Three, even if I am older than you, you are going to be a father in half a year, so… And four, who else would I have officiate it?"

Arthur rolled his eyes, and grumbled, "Alright… fine. I'll officiate your wedding… if she says yes."

"I'm sure she will, Gwaine," Guinevere reassured him kindly.

Just then, the doors burst open and Merlin entered.

"Ah, there you are, Merlin," Gwaine grinned. "I'm going to propose to Eira. If she says yes, would you be one of my groomsmen?"

Merlin looked completely confused at Gwaine, then turned towards the royal couple, then looked back at Gwaine and asked, "What did I just walk into?"

"Gwaine's fairly sure he's getting married and he wants you to be one of his groomsmen. It's very simple, Merlin," Arthur sighed.

"Uhhhhh… Okay. Sure, Gwaine. Just tell me what to do," Merlin agreed, finally grasping the concept.

"Will do," Gwaine promised, then exited the chambers.

Merlin turned back towards the royal couple and opened his mouth to speak, then looked like he forgot what he was originally going to say.

"Were you going to tell us something important that happened on your herb hunt, Merlin?" Arthur gestured towards the doors.

"What?" Merlin was still trying to process what had just happened. "Oh, yes, yes!" He quickly moved to close the doors. Then he leaned towards them excitedly and told them. "We found Aithusa!"

"Really?" Guinevere asked, leaning closer as if it was their little secret.

Merlin nodded eagerly. "I'm going to ask Gaius if he knows any way to heal her. I think I might be able to contact Kilgharrah telepathically and ask him as well. I'd like to go back tomorrow, if that's alright with both of you."

"It's fine with me," Guinevere approved. "Arthur?"

"It's alright," he announced. "Actually… it's fantastic. Can I come with you?"

*****

The morning started out glorious, but as Arthur and Merlin walked along clouds were gathering ominously.

"So you're telling me that you contacted the crazy old dragon telepathically and he told you how to heal this one, right?" Arthur asked as he and Merlin trudged along.

"Yes, but he was as cryptic as usual. Granted, we couldn't hold the connection for long since he's getting old, but still. He said I'd be able to find it within myself," Merlin grumbled as he rolled his eyes. "I wonder if it would kill him to be straight forward for once."

"Hmm," Arthur huffed, uninterested. "Why didn't Gwaine ask you to be his best man? You two seem rather close."

Merlin stopped and looked back in surprise, and asked, "How am I supposed to know why? Besides, I'm glad he didn't ask me. I'm too busy. And it's supposed to be tomorrow afternoon, anyway."

"He could've just pushed the wedding back if he wanted you," Arthur pointed out, trying to explore how far he could get with the topic.

Merlin laughed, not slowing down at all in his stride, "Gwaine and I do get along quite well, but he's a knight and I’m not. He's not the other side of my coin like you. We both understand that."

"You sure?" Arthur asked.

"What is up with you?" Merlin muttered with what he seemed to think was under his breath. He then reassured him, "Look, in many ways Gwaine reminds me of Will, and I can have a fun time with him. But at the end of the day, you're the one that feels most like the brother I never had, Arthur."

Arthur remained quiet, smiling. Merlin seemed to think nothing of the silence and continued walking at a fast pace for a few hours. They didn't reach the cave that day, however.

As luck would have it, it started thundering, then pouring down rain.

"We need to find some place to sleep!" Merlin called out over the rain. They were both soaked through and through.

Arthur nodded, and was scanning for a cave but it was getting dark rapidly.

He heard Merlin talk again, and suddenly there was a light shining out of his hand. Handy.

Merlin grinned at him as they quickly found a small cave. Merlin briefly picked up some small logs as firewood, even though they were wet.

Shivering, Arthur pulled his cloak closer around him as Merlin lit the fire, uttering, " _Forbearne_."

The sparks grew but remained stubborn to properly burn due to the wetness of the wood.

The two of them sat close together, trying to regain warmth, shivering.

Arthur felt mildly bad for Merlin with just his thin tunic, coarse trousers, and raggedy jacket as clothes.

He decided that that would change soon.

*****

Percival concluded that being Gwaine's best man was one of the easiest things he'd done in a while. All he really did was pay for everyone's rounds at the tavern the night before the wedding. Arthur and Merlin weren't there, so it was mostly just him, Leon, and Gwaine, along with a few other knights celebrating Gwaine's last night of "freedom".

He did hope that Merlin and Arthur were somewhere safe from the pouring rain, though.

*****

The rain lasted overnight, so Merlin and Arthur lay on the ground of the cave, trying to get some sleep during the rainstorm. It seemed impossible to get a decent sleep, however.

Their sleep was restless, and they kept on waking up. One of the times they were both awake, Merlin sighed and turned over on his side to face the King.

Arthur would not stop fidgeting, as if he wanted to talk but then decided not to.

"What is it?" Merlin sighed, turning towards the King.

"What is what?" Arthur asked, surprised, locking eye contact.

"Something's up. You've been acting strangely all day," Merlin explained. "So, what's the matter?"

Arthur rolled onto his back, sighing, with a very, very slight tone of bitterness, "I should've known I couldn't hide anything from you. It isn't just one thing… It's… quite a lot of things."

"If you don't want to tell me, you know… that's okay. I… won't be offended," Merlin offered with what he thought sounded generously.

"Don't be such a girl, Merlin," Arthur laughed. "When you say it like that, it makes it seem that you _will_ be offended if I didn't tell you."

"Sorry," Merlin apologized with a grin at the familiar banter.

There were a few seconds of companionable silence before Arthur finally started, "I'm worried about a lot of things, Merlin… I'm worried about how the kingdom will react towards the ban on magic being repealed. I’m worried about the twins and Guinevere… my mother died giving birth to me, and while I know the circumstances are definitely not the same, it doesn't stop me from worrying… And lastly… I suppose… I'm worried about _us,_ Merlin."

"What about us?" Merlin asked, wary.

"It's just… we haven't talked over what we want to do, how we expect our relationship to continue after the ban is lifted and you are no longer running around with a death sentence hanging over your head that you've had your whole life," Arthur tried to explain.

Merlin carefully thought about his answer before he assured Arthur, "No, we haven't talked about that. And I'm worried about it too. But I do know one thing, Arthur."

"What is that?" Arthur asked despondently.

"We'll get through these awaiting times together," Merlin declared with absolute certainty. "Side by side."

Arthur gave a small smile, nodding minimally, then he relaxed into a more comfortable position.

"I'd like that," Arthur admitted. "Let's try to get some sleep, now… _brother_."

"Goodnight, _brother_ ," Merlin lightly chuckled in response, turning over.

Merlin wriggled around, trying to find the most comfortable spot, but gave up as sleep caught up with him.

It seemed like only a few seconds later that he opened his eyes again to find the rain gone and the sun was up, shining brilliantly. Birds were singing cheerfully. The air still felt wet but that was alright. Thankfully, it was still fairly early morning.

Sitting up and turning over to Arthur, he gently shook the King awake. Arthur, used to waking up quickly while camping, woke up immediately and with a clear head.

He glanced towards the sun, understanding. He sat up, yawning and stretching, as Merlin quickly stamped out the fire.

In a matter of minutes, they were on their way.

After a couple of hours, Merlin finally stopped at the mouth of a cave.

"Here we are," he announced over his shoulder. Crouching and moving slowly so as not to frighten the young dragon, he called out to her, "Aithusa?"

The white dragon eagerly came out of the shadow of the cave at his call, then curiously scrutinized Arthur.

"It's okay," he explained, placing his hand on her head. "He's a friend."

Aithusa nodded, comprehending, and immediately moved closer to Arthur. She was much more comfortable with him than with Daegal. Awkwardly, Arthur held out his hand and she rubbed her head underneath it.

"We're going to get you healed, okay?" Merlin told her, crouching down to the ground.

She waddled over to Merlin and laid down as flat as she could, waiting patiently for him.

For a few seconds, Merlin remained silent with his hand placed on top of her head, then he spoke out in dragon speech. He felt Aithusa beginning to heal, but it wasn't quite enough. He searched further into himself and remembered Kilgharrah's words.

So focused he was on healing her that he didn't notice any change until Arthur suddenly grabbed him and pulled him out of the way of the rapidly healing dragon.

Opening his eyes, Merlin observed as Aithusa's body expanded and straightened in the way it was supposed to until finally she was her ordinary size. She was definitely smaller than Kilgharrah, but bigger than she had been. Merlin wouldn't mind riding her.

Excitedly, Aithusa stretched out her wings experimentally and bounced a couple of times. The ground shook with her bounce and it knocked Merlin off his feet. Fortunately, Arthur, who was sure-footed, caught him before he fell flat on his face to the ground.

Unexpectedly, Aithusa giggled at Merlin's predicament, "Oops. Sorry, Emrys."

Arthur stood wide-jawed, still holding Merlin up by the armpits, while Merlin grinned brightly as he exclaimed, "You can talk now!"

Aithusa nodded energetically.

"Let's go for a ride!" she cried out, planting herself on the ground so that the two of them could climb on.

Standing, Merlin pulled himself out of Arthur's grasp and immediately hoisted himself up. Arthur made no move to join him.

"C'mon, Arthur, it's perfectly safe," Merlin tried to reassure him.

Arthur blinked, and stared at him. " _Perfectly safe_?!" he shouted. "You call riding a dragon _perfectly safe?!_ "

"I've done it before and never had any problems," Merlin pointed out.

Reluctantly, Arthur finally stepped forward, then climbed onto Aithusa's back behind Merlin. Stubbornly, he refused to hold on at first.

Feeling that her two passengers were ready, Aithusa leaped into the air without warning. Merlin smoothly adjusted his grip on her to compensate for it and felt as Arthur desperately and tightly wrapped his arms around Merlin's torso.

"Ahhh!" Arthur yelled, trying to still sound manly while clinging onto his manservant for dear life. "We're going to die!"

Merlin rolled his eyes and yelled back, since yelling was necessary with how loudly the wind was whipping around them, "No, we're not."

Aithusa, heading for the clearing outside of Camelot, swooped around and flew much more playfully than Kilgharrah ever did.

Merlin spread out his arms and yelled, laughing, "Whoo hoo!" Arthur's arms, if possible, seemed to tighten even more to Merlin, as if willing him to be more careful.

After yelling for a few minutes straight, Arthur went silent. Merlin turned his head to look at the king and noticed that his face was ashen with a hint of green.

Merlin called out to Aithusa in mind-speak and told her to ride a little smoother. As funny as it would be to poke fun at Arthur, he didn't want the King to heave all over him.

Instantly, as soon as Aithusa touched the ground, Arthur loosened his grip on Merlin and swiftly rolled off of the dragon. Aithusa stretched down to the ground so that he only fell about three feet.

He looked a little green as he frantically grasped onto the grass, gasping, "Hello ground! I've missed you!"

Merlin, for once the graceful one, jumped down next to the King.

"You alright there, sire?" he asked cheekily.

Arthur glared at him, looking infinitely less nauseous… though perhaps still a little paler than usual.

"The human body was not naturally made for flying. Besides, I'm not the one named after a bird, _Mer_ -lin," Arthur scoffed, still refusing to get up.

Biting his tongue to keep from laughing, Merlin walked over him and called over his shoulder with a grin, "Whatever you say, Arthur Pen- _DRAGON_."

"Merlin?" Arthur asked, finally sitting up to uphold his dignity.

"Shut up?" Merlin guessed.

"Correct," Arthur held out his arms as if he expected Merlin to help him up. Merlin, rolling his eyes, trudged back to him to pull the King back up. "Not a word of this to anyone, understand?"

Merlin smiled fondly as he helped the King stand, though Arthur couldn't see it, and nodded. Some things never change.

"I understand perfectly, sire," he stated. They turned back to Aithusa to say farewell.

The white dragon bowed to them, grinning, "Your majesty, I hope that you will ride with me another time. I will be more careful next time to make sure that I do not frighten you. And thank you, both, Emrys and your highness, for healing me."

With that, she jumped into the air and left, flapping her wings joyfully.

They watched her for a few seconds, then turned towards each other.

They needed to hurry or else they might be late for Gwaine and Eira's wedding, which would be embarrassing for both of them.

*****

Arthur was grateful that practically nobody except for Guinevere seemed to notice that he and Merlin were running mildly late. They'd gotten back to Camelot by lunchtime and quickly whirled about, getting ready.

It was decided due to the recent rain that they would hold the wedding in the council chambers.

Arthur was slightly nervous since he'd never truly officiated a wedding before, but he'd done more nerve-wracking things then marry people, so he was fine.

Neither Gwaine nor Eira had any family in attendance, the only family alive being Gwaine's sister who he did not miss at all, so they only had to wait for the groomsmen and bridesmaids to make appearances. Daegal ushered the few knights and servants that had been invited, having them stand in rows.

Gwaine stood up with Arthur waiting, his hands shaking. Gwaine was not normally one to get nervous.

"Once it begins, it'll feel like the time just flies. I don't remember much of my wedding, to be honest," Arthur comforted him.

Gwaine looked down the aisle as Merlin came down escorting the first bridesmaid and responded, "Really?"

"Why on earth would I lie about that?" Arthur immediately pointed out. Next Leon was coming down with the next bridesmaid.

"Dunno," Gwaine replied, now holding his breath as Percival came down with the last bridesmaid on his arm.

Then Eira entered, in a white dress and a veil over her face, with a bouquet of flowers. Guinevere entered shortly after her inconspicuously and remained in the back of the room.

Gwaine's reaction was priceless. He gaped at his bride openly.

Arthur glanced over towards Leon, Percival, and Merlin as they smiled at the couple.

Eira got up there, they said their vows, and it was over very quickly. Everyone was beaming.

The reception afterwards promised to be entertaining, but Arthur slipped out with Guinevere soon after it started. She did need sleep after all, since she was pregnant with twins.

With their arms looped, they quietly headed back to their chambers.

Arthur pulled a vase of fresh flowers that he had picked on his way back to Camelot with Merlin that morning and handed them to Gwen while her back was turned towards him.

"What are these for?" Guinevere asked, smiling as she sniffed the flowers.

Arthur shrugged, wrapping his arms around her and pecking her cheek with a quick kiss.

"Does a man have to have a reason for picking his wife some flowers?" he asked.

"No, I suppose not," she shrugged out of his embrace to place the flowers on the table. "How was your time with Merlin?"

"Good," he responded, now looking thoughtful. "I feel it's time. I'll ask him to be Court Sorcerer tomorrow."

*****

**Author's Note**

Guys, I am so sorry I uploaded this chapter later than planned. But don't worry, bad has happened; quite the opposite actually. My sister just got suddenly approved for an apartment on Tuesday when she'd just applied for that one the day before, and she's moving out on Monday, plus she's got a lot of stuff to pack so...

At least I'll be getting her room soon, which is bigger, has a bigger closet space, and a newer window (my current bedroom window rattles when it's windy lol).

I also wasn't really that motivated to write this chapter as it felt like an intermission of sorts. Like, it was necessary, as you'll see in a few chapters, but it wasn't exciting for me. I am, however, REALLY excited about the next ten chapters to come.

Hope you enjoyed Gwaine and Eira's wedding. I didn't know where to put it and then decided that they were the type to get married quickly. We won't be seeing as much of them as Arthur/Gwen or Merlin/Mithian, though.

I don't really know how they did weddings in medieval times, so I just based it off of weddings I've been to, except simpler. Most of the knights will have pretty simple, small weddings. Merlin, however… ;)

Also, Aithusa is finally here, and here to stay. She's not really like Kilgharrah at all. I decided it would be weird for her to call Merlin "young warlock" (or Merlin just yet) when she's younger than him, and around Arthur "my lord" might be confusing, so I decided on her calling him Emrys. I decided not to do the dragon language because you're not supposed to know what it exactly means in the show (only Dragonlords and dragons can speak it, after all) and because… I didn't feel like it XD.

I didn't cover the memories all that much in here because if I put in every detail that I want to of them, we would never get to the true Golden Age. However, I'm excited to announce that I'm starting a companion piece to this, which will contain every single of the memories and all of their reactions. Basically, it's going to be a watching-the-show fic based between chapters 13 and 14. It's called The Crystal of Neahtid and I'll be uploading the prologue tomorrow. The first episode will be uploaded next Friday.

I like watching-the-show fics, and it's getting more into the AU in The Golden Years that it's become harder to write up three new chapters each week. After all, I don't spend my whole time reading and writing Merlin fanfiction (shocking, I know). So, The Crystal of Neahtid is a little bit easier since I just have to put in the show and how I think the characters would comment on it. So I'll be updating The Golden Years every Monday and Wednesday while I update The Crystal of Neahtid on Fridays.

This was my original plan to slow down with The Golden Years, so if you check on your calendar and count two chapters for each week from here on out until you reach seventy, you'll see when The Golden Years should be finished. (Hinty hint hint: it's December 2nd of this year, like I told you it would be in early December in chapter 3's note. I'm so sneaky... Mwahahahahaha)

Next chapter should be coming on Monday, but it may be at an odd time since I'll be helping my sister move out. It's gonna be a good one... (hopefully)…


	15. A Punishment and Promotion

The next morning, Arthur decided to bring the topic up _nicely_.

"So, Merlin, I was thinking that when we repeal the ban on magic that you should be Court Sorcerer."

CLANG!

Merlin dropped the tray he had been holding. Thankfully there was no food in it, but every dish rattled on the floor loudly.

"Sorry," Merlin mumbled, bending over to pick up the tray. "I thought I heard you say... Something... which I'm sure you didn't. What did you say?"

"I said, I was thinking that when we repeal the law against magic that you should be Court Sorcerer," Arthur repeated, amused.

CLANG!

Merlin had dropped the tray _again_ , which he again tried to pick up, flustered.

"Uh," Merlin stood back up with the tray in his hands, his ears turning red, "Could you... Um.... repeat that again?"

"How about you set the tray aside first?" Arthur suggested, gesturing towards the table.

"Oh, yeah, that would be a good idea," Merlin agreed, nervously quickly placing the tray on the table. So quickly, in fact, that the dishes on it very nearly fell over, but eventually settled after a glare from Merlin.

Arthur would've suspected that Merlin had used magic to still them except that there was no telltale flash of his eyes.

Arthur did suspect, however, that Merlin had heard him perfectly but didn't think he had.

"Okay," Arthur cleared his throat and repeated slowly, "I said… that I was thinking that when we make magic legal that you should be Court Sorcerer."

Merlin blinked at him once. Then twice. Three times.

"Court Sorcerer?" he finally squeaked.

Arthur nodded deliberately slowly.

"Is this some kind of dream?" Merlin instantly asked, in shock.

"Maybe you should pinch yourself and check," Arthur suggested drily.

Immediately, Merlin followed his advice, which was proof that Merlin was in shock of itself, and pinched himself. He seemed convinced that he was, in fact, not in a dream. Then he looked at Arthur accusingly and confused.

"Are you sure you haven't gone crazy?" Merlin asked, squinting and scanning the King up and down. Then he cocked his head and added, "Or been enchanted?"

Arthur rolled his eyes and declared, "No, Merlin, I have not gone crazy or been enchanted. Just ask Guinevere if you don't trust me."

Merlin processed this information and then inquired, as he narrowed his eyes, "Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?"

" _Mer_ -lin! You thick-headed idiot!" Arthur was getting impatient. "Don't you know a promotion when you see one?"

"It's not like I've ever gotten one before," Merlin swiftly shot back. "Why me? Why now?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you're supposed to be the most powerful sorcerer ever to walk the earth," Arthur explained sarcastically.

"But… but… I'm just a servant," Merlin protested stubbornly. "I came from a poor farming village."

"Merlin, you are not _just_ a servant. You never have been. How many servants do you know have single-handedly saved the kingdom multiple times?" Arthur pointed out.

"But… I'm not a _noble_ or anything. I don't know the first thing about being in the court! I'd mess up!" Merlin desperately tried to counter.

"Actually, you are a noble, or have you forgotten?" Arthur smirked.

"I… ugh! You've been planning this, haven't you?!" Merlin accused, jabbing his finger towards the King.

Arthur decided this might be the perfect time to try out being cryptic.

"A good king is constantly striving to help the kingdom thrive and-"

"Just give me a straight answer!" Merlin nearly shrieked, getting upset now.

"Yes, I have been planning to ask you to be Court Sorcerer since I realized that I needed to lift the ban on magic. And I've been contemplating you as First Advisor for longer than that, which will come with being Court Sorcerer," Arthur explained honestly.

"And you couldn't bring this up before because??" Merlin questioned, now covering his face with his hands.

"Because I needed to be prepared. I knew you'd argue against it," Arthur told him as if it were obvious.

"For good reason! I..I.. I can't be C-Court Sorcerer!" Merlin stammered.

"Why not?" Arthur asked simply.

"Uh... Because!" Merlin was now frantically wildly gesturing with his arms.

"That's not a valid reason, Merlin, and you know it," Arthur replied casually.

"I freeze up when I have to speak in public! I panic and sound like an idiot-"

"And how is that different from usual?" Arthur interrupted, joking.

"It isn't funny, Arthur!" Merlin retorted indignantly, putting his hands on his hips.

Arthur put his hands out in surrender, then continued seriously, "Look, I know that I kind of sprung it on you, and I'm sorry for that. But I do think that you're the best for the job, and I know that you would enjoy it. I'll admit, part of me just wants to give you a really fancy house and absolutely everything you could've dreamed for in return for everything you've done for me, but I know that that wouldn't be even half enough to repay you and that you wouldn't be happy with it. No, you're too selfless. You enjoy helping other people, and I just want to help put you in a position where you can more easily."

Merlin looked down at the floor during this brief speech, and was continuing to look down at it until he slowly replied, "It's just… can you let me think about it first?"

Arthur nodded agreeably, "Tell you what. If you can tell me with a straight face and maintaining eye contact in ten days that you think somebody else would be better suited for the job, then you don't have to do it. During those ten days, we won't speak of it to each other; we'll just pretend this conversation didn't happen."

Merlin inhaled sharply through his nose before replying, "Alright. I'll tell you my decision in ten days."

*****

Gaius was working on a potion when Merlin came in from work fairly early. Daegal was out doing part of the rounds.

The way that Merlin swung open the door, stomped in with barely a nod in greeting towards the physician, and crashed into his bed alerted Gaius that something was wrong.

Especially since Merlin had gotten off early.

When that happened, that meant that either Arthur was feeling generous or they had gotten into a debate.

Gaius was assuming it was something of the latter.

After finishing his potion, he sighed and trudged up the stairs to Merlin's bedroom.

The warlock was just sitting on his bed, his head propped up by his hands, staring at the wall, deep in thought.

"Merlin?" Gaius called, coming over to sit beside him on the bed.

"What?" Merlin asked not unkindly, turning towards him.

"Is there something wrong?" Gaius asked.

Merlin got back into his initial position and sighed, "Nothing's exactly wrong..."

"But there is something... unless the wall suddenly grew interesting," Gaius pointed out.

Merlin huffed minimally, "Yeah."

"So, are you going to tell me or the wall?" Gaius pressed.

Merlin crossed his arms and straightened up as he explained, "Arthur wants me to be Court Sorcerer."

Gaius remained silent, knowing that Merlin would have more to say.

"And it's not that I don't _want_ it, but… I just don't feel capable, you know."

"And what do you think should be the qualifications of the Court Sorcerer of Camelot?" Gaius inquired gently.

Merlin stayed quiet for a few seconds, slightly stumped.

"I suppose, they should aide and protect the realm, advise the King, constantly expand their knowledge of magic, and teach others about magic," Merlin answered thoughtfully.

"Well," Gaius scooted closer and put his arm around Merlin, "You've been doing the first three since you moved to Camelot and the last one now that you can teach others about magic. You are qualified, even if it doesn't feel like it."

They remained like that for a few minutes until Merlin finally broke out of the embrace, explaining, "I just need some… space to think about it all, okay?"

Gaius nodded, standing up from the bed.

"I know you'll make the right decision."

*****

That night, Merlin lay in bed, just trying to sleep and not think about the major decision that he had to make in less than a fortnight.

His eyes were closed, his breathing was slowing, he was getting more relaxed in general, when out of nowhere he hears, " _Merlin_."

The voice woke him up immediately, startling him.

" _Kilgharrah_ ," he responded telepathically, annoyed. " _Do you ever sleep?_ "

A rumbling chuckle resounded through his mind as the dragon replied, " _Considering that you are still awake at midnight, young warlock, I should ask that of you as well._ "

" _I couldn't sleep,_ " Merlin protested. " _What's your excuse?_ "

" _Ah, yes, you have a hard decision in front of you, indeed, young warlock,_ " the dragon smoothly avoided the question.

" _Don't tell me,_ " Merlin inwardly sighed, " _I already know that. I don't want to hear you tell me as well that I'm just being an idiot._ "

" _Don't worry, I won't… this time_ ," Kilgharrah promised, chuckling.

" _That's very reassuring_ ," Merlin remarked sarcastically.

" _That is not why I have contacted you, young warlock. I have seen that you have successfully healed the youngling. You have nearly fulfilled your destiny with the Once and Future King_ ," Kilgharrah declared.

" _And?_ "

" _I am getting old and I cannot hold this connection for long, young warlock. I have something that I want to tell the Once and Future King in person. The youngling will show you the way to my cave._ "

With that, the dragon severed the connection.

Merlin flopped back onto his bed and fell asleep in a minute.

*****

Leon, Percival, Gwaine, Arthur, and Merlin were riding their horses to the White Mountains three days after Kilgharrah had contacted Merlin.

Leon wasn't entirely sure how he felt about meeting the dragon that had attacked Camelot, but Merlin was now his Dragonlord so it would be fine.

He also wondered what the dragon wanted to tell the King that he couldn't just have Merlin tell him.

They'd left Guinevere behind to manage the kingdom while they would be gone for four days. She hadn't particularly wanted to meet the dragon while she was pregnant with twins.

On the second day into the four day trip, Leon was riding beside Arthur in the front while Percival rode in the middle and Gwaine and Merlin took up the back. Merlin and Arthur did seem to be putting the most amount of distance possible between each other, but neither seemed upset. Almost as if they were just simply giving each other space, for whatever reason. They were quieter, though.

Gwaine was making up for their lack of banter plenty though. He was chattering up and down about how excited he was to meet the dragons, among stories and jokes and other things.

Leon knew that Gwaine generally chattered more when he was nervous or felt the need to lighten the mood, so he figured that the other knight had picked up on Arthur and Merlin's strange mood that day.

Well, it was slightly lightening the mood but mostly it was making people annoyed at the talkative knight. The kind of annoyed that's too tempting to get rid of.

"-and then, he said, 'It's GOR-illa to meet you!'. Get it? Instead of good he said gorilla because he's a-"

"Gwaine," Arthur cut him off, "How on earth is that even considered funny?"

"It doesn't even make any sense," Leon pointed out. "What in the world is a gorilla?"

"I have no idea," Percival conceded.

"Maybe it's some sort of magical creature," Merlin suggested half-heartedly. "It could talk, after all."

"Or maybe Gwaine just made it up," Arthur proposed, rolling his eyes.

"You're just jealous I came up with a joke and you didn't," Gwaine proclaimed loudly.

"We didn't laugh... At all," Leon brought up.

"And you probably heard it at the tavern, anyway," Percival declared.

Gwaine dramatically pressed his hand and gasped, "I am truly offended that you would think so lowly of me, Perce, that I couldn't come up with my own joke."

After some laughter, the group quieted down.

As usual, it was Gwaine who broke the silence, with, "So, Merls, when do we get to ride on Aithusa?"

Arthur suddenly got very red in the face and nudged his horse a little farther ahead.

Raising his eyebrows, Merlin explained, "She isn't big enough to carry all five of us yet, Gwaine."

"Would she be able to carry us four if we left Percy behind?" Gwaine asked innocently.

"Hey!" shouted Percival, turning towards the other knight.

"Don't offend Percival, Gwaine," Leon guffawed.

"Well, he already offended me, however, I only meant that he was the heaviest of us all, what with all those muscles," Gwaine quickly explained.

"Fair enough," Percival decided, "Though that is a bit of a lousy compliment."

Merlin snorted, "Arthur is the king of giving lousy compliments."

"…Thank you, Merlin," Arthur said without turning his head.

"That wasn't a compliment," Merlin laughed.

"Exactly," Arthur replied, still not looking back.

Leon looked at the sky that was rapidly darkening and declared, "Shouldn't we stop for the night?"

Arthur glanced at the sky as well and nodded, "Yeah, let's make camp."

After swiftly finding a suitable place, they dismounted and tied their horses up.

Leon and Arthur went out to gather firewood, and once they were out of earshot of the others, Leon couldn't help but inquire, "What's up between you and Merlin?"

Arthur looked over his shoulder to ensure that the others couldn't hear before answering, "I asked him to be Court Sorcerer. He still has yet to take the position. That's all. I've just been trying to give him space. I can tell he's been thinking about it."

"Do you think he'll say yes?" Leon whispered.

Arthur nodded, and said, "He may not be very pleased about it right now, but I think he'll enjoy it in the end."

Leon nodded in understanding, then gestured towards the wood in their arms and declared, "This should be enough wood. Let's head back."

They headed back and got a fire going. Everyone quickly fell asleep.

The next morning they awoke refreshed.

It was the day that they would finally meet the old dragon, and the knights would properly meet the young dragon for the first time.

After two hours of traveling, they had made it to the mountains when Aithusa came gliding down gracefully.

"Hello!" she greeted cheerfully as she landed. She quickly addressed the knights with a grin, "My name is Aithusa. What are your names?"

The knights blinked at her in a little bit of shock. They'd heard from Merlin that Aithusa was very friendly, but hearing is different from seeing.

"Sir Gwaine," Gwaine was the first to answer her request, breaking out of his stupor.

"Sir Leon," Leon declared,

"And Sir Percival."

Aithusa stood up straighter in excitement and declared, "Great! And, of course, I've already met you, your majesty. And," then she chuckled, "What kind of dragon would I be if I didn't recognize my own dragonlord?"

Leon decided that a cheerful dragon was very strange. Very strange, indeed. It was completely alien to what his way of thinking had been just less than four months ago, when the very same dragon had attacked them at Camlann.

He glanced at his fellow knights and concluded that they were probably thinking something similar. He heard Merlin and Arthur talk but he didn't listen to what they said.

"Well," she talked again. "I'll fly overhead and show you the way to 'I'm-not-a-horse-Kilgharrah'. Ready?"

She didn't even wait for their confirmation as she leaped into the air, spiraling up into the sky a decent distance away from that so as to not disturb them.

The way up the mountain wasn't the easiest thing to climb, but thankfully Kilgharrah's cave wasn't in the heart of the mountain range but rather near the edge. Jubilantly, Aithusa flew overhead, whirling about and having fun.

It was a couple of hours later when Aithusa finally descended towards the ground again, landing gently near them.

There was a visible huge cave mouth in view.

"This is it," Aithusa declared happily.

Their cloaks billowing in the wind, they climbed the last few feet into the cave. Aithusa stayed outside as they entered the cave. Due to the sudden change in lighting, they had to blink several times in order to adjust.

A large, golden dragon was uncurling and stretching out of his nap.

It seemed to Leon that the dragon was bigger than he remembered, though it was visibly not as healthy.

"Young warlock, young King, and Sir Knights," Kilgharrah greeted, yawning.

"Kilgharrah," Arthur responded, clearly feeling awkward, as the others bowed their heads briskly in greeting.

"It is pleasure to meet you all," the dragon declared, bowing his head as well.

"You're… pretty… big," Gwaine observed out loud, gaping at the dragon.

The dragon chuckled, "Thank you, Sir Gwaine."

"Observant as always, Gwaine," Merlin quipped from where he was standing at the back of the group.

"As nice as it is to talk, I fear that we do not have much to talk about," the dragon declared. "There is something I would like to tell the Once and Future King in private, however."

"Of course," Leon nodded and turned to leave. Merlin quickly followed him. Percival grabbed onto Gwaine's arm and dragged him out of the cave.

Aithusa herded them down a little ways so that they wouldn't be able to overhear the dragon's conversation with their king.

"What does 'I fear that we do not have much to talk about' even mean exactly?" Gwaine asked.

Merlin shrugged, "You tell me. He's always been cryptic."

"What do you think he wants to tell Arthur?" Percival wondered aloud.

"I have no idea," Leon admitted, sitting down on a boulder.

"Why don't we ask him when he comes out?" Gwaine proposed.

"Uh, he wanted it to be private. Arthur isn't going to just tell us," Merlin pointed out, leaning against Aithusa.

"Well, it's worth a shot," Gwaine declared. Only a few seconds later, he complained, "What is taking them so long?"

"It's barely been two minutes, Gwaine," Leon rolled his eyes at the knight.

"He was just supposed to tell Arthur something. How long is that supposed to take?" Gwaine brought up.

"Must be something really important and lengthy," Percival noted.

Merlin didn't seem to be contemplating what Kilgharrah was telling Arthur and joked, "Or maybe it's taking Arthur awhile to wrap his mind around whatever confusing thing he said."

After quite a few minutes, Arthur exited the cave and joined them.

"So," Gwaine immediately asked the King, "What did he say?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows and said, "Do you really think I'm going to tell you after he didn't want you guys eavesdropping?"

"Yes," Gwaine answered and everyone laughed.

"Well, too bad," Arthur chuckled. "Shall we say goodbye to him and head back to Camelot?"

Everyone nodded, agreeing, and climbed back up.

In the end, the only person that Arthur told about his discussion with Kilgharrah for several years was Guinevere.

*****

The night before his ten days were up, Merlin stayed awake the whole night without even realizing it.

The questions swirled around in his mind, the pros and cons of what he was about to decide.

Should he become Court Sorcerer, should he stay as Arthur's servant, should he run away from Camelot and live to be an old hermit?

He couldn't see very far down any path. Well, he could see what happened if he became a hermit and he didn't want _that_. But at least he did know what was going to happen.

If he stayed as Arthur's servant, he really didn't know what would befall him. Could he even bear for there to be a Court Sorcerer if it wasn't him? He had been Camelot's sole magical protector and he didn't think he could stand watching someone else usurp him in that. He also enjoyed that Arthur trusted his advice, even if he didn't always heed it. He couldn't imagine Arthur going to somebody else for magical advice. In those aspects, Merlin agreed that he was the most qualified.

Yet he didn't want to be Court Sorcerer. He didn't want to be goggled at as if he were an exotic animal. He didn't want to defend himself in front of the nobles of Camelot. He didn't want to be responsible for protecting anyone else. He'd already failed so many.

But yet he did _want_ to be Court Sorcerer. He didn't feel ready though. Perhaps in a another year. Perhaps never.

He was comfortable where he was. Perhaps it wasn't ideal, maybe something might be better, but he knew what he was doing.

He wished that he could just flash forward a few years, when he would be experienced at being Court Sorcerer and not be worried.

He would like a job where most of what he would do was play with magic. But he'd been so used to not experimenting with it, to suppressing what had been so natural for him until it became only an illegal hobby that could be used to help people.

He also wanted to help people, but most of all he wanted what was best for people, including the ones close to him.

He didn't want people to have high expectations of him just for him to let them down.

But if someone else were to come in and be Court Sorcerer, they might not want what was best for the people, and that was arguably worse than whatever mistakes he would make.

He wished that it was an easy decision. He wished that he'd had more time for the decision. Why couldn't Arthur have asked him earlier?

No, he couldn't blame it on Arthur. Merlin had had ten days to decide and he had procrastinated until the last possible night. He'd instinctively known before Arthur even mentioned it that he had this decision to make. But he'd tried to busy himself, to pretend that if he was busy doing something else the universe would notice and would let him off the hook.

He'd never felt as if he were in control of his life ever since he first stepped into Camelot. It was as if destiny had dragged him, plopped him into the bottom of a dry well and expected him to figure out how to climb out of it while it observed and laughed at him.

He didn't want to think of what would happen if it wasn't only destiny laughing at him. But stage fright and talking in public, pretending to be something he wasn't, was only a fraction of his worries of becoming Court Sorcerer. He had learned how to pretend quite well, after all. And how to make it seem as if the insults never stung.

He'd been constantly giving as others constantly took, and now that they were offering something to him, he didn't know what to do.

Everyone that he loved seemed to think he would be a great Court Sorcerer, but that only made the decision harder.

His head was pounding and spinning, and he felt as if he could puke.

Clasping his head tightly, he desperately stopped himself from pulling out his hair. He fought the sudden urge to jump up, run, and just scream his heart out. But he couldn't run away from this decision. He was trapped with supposedly everything he ever wanted right in front of his face and was given a choice of two doors, two roads, one supposedly better than the other, but he didn't know which one it was.

Being Court Sorcerer would be a punishment and promotion all rolled into one.

He'd never asked to be Emrys.

_Arthur didn't ask to be the Once and Future King, either, and he's not complaining._

Where had that thought come from?!

Merlin sat up quickly in his bed, holding onto that thought.

Life… isn't always easy, but quite a few things work out for the best in the end. It would be uncomfortable to be Court Sorcerer, but it was his duty.

He only hoped he didn't mess up too bad.

*****

Arthur looked up as Merlin entered the chambers, looking thoroughly exhausted. It had been ten days since he had asked Merlin to be Court Sorcerer, and today was the day that Merlin chose to accept it or not.

Honestly, Arthur wasn't worried. He knew in his heart which one Merlin would choose.

Merlin stepped forward then stopped in front of Arthur, nervously biting his lip.

"So…" the warlock started. "I considered it all of these ten days and… I couldn't think of anyone who would do it better." He took in a deep breath before quickly spitting out the rest of the statement, "So I guess I'll take the promotion."

Arthur grinned, nearly laughing, when he responded with, "I knew you'd take it." Then he clapped his hands together and declared, "Alright, now we need to get you ready. You'll need to be fitted for new clothes, given new chambers..."

"On one condition," Merlin added, slightly interrupting.

"What?" Arthur asked, wary.

"Just don't make me wear stupid hats and let me keep my neckerchief. Deal?" Merlin grinned.

"Deal," Arthur sighed, relieved.

"… You know… I should probably tell my mother about this."

*****

**Author's Note**

Wow, I wasn't originally planning on making the section where Merlin is deciding whether he should be Court Sorcerer or not that long, but right now I'm kind of going through a similar decision and so the words just wrote themselves.

I didn't want Merlin to become Court Sorcerer immediately after saving Arthur's life, because I felt that they needed to mend their relationship first, and adjust to magic on their own before they tried to help the whole kingdom accept magic.

Wow, is this really the first time I've technically had Kilgharrah in a chapter? I decided to go with the show's excuse that he's getting old because somebody has to.

In case you're wondering, Arthur will reveal what Kilgharrah told him later in this fic. What do you think it was about?

Completely random fun fact: while my family was taking flowers out to cemeteries for Memorial Day, I remembered that my late grandma's first husband (her second husband was my grandpa, both husbands died; they didn't divorce or anything like that so my grandma was buried with the first one) was named Arthur. Everyone called him Art so I completely forgot that XD.

I ended up writing most of this chapter on my phone due to circumstances. I generally just write down notes with my phone and type out everything on my computer. Doing it on my phone is a lot slower but I can do it on the go.

I did warn you this might not be updated on Monday. Turns out I was right. I could go on a big rant as to why I wasn't able to update this earlier but I'm not going to.

On the bright side, the next chapter should be up tomorrow. Granted, it's fairly short, but still.

Let's see if I can do better with next week's long chapters…

And for any of you who are new here...

It's gorilla to meet you XD.


End file.
